


When The Lights Die

by ziaminmypants



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Blindness, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-14
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-11-21 07:07:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 58,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziaminmypants/pseuds/ziaminmypants
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.</p><p>  <i>Where Liam is blind and Zayn tries to show him the world he’s so violently shut out.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The silence is deafening.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So this is the prologue to my new chapter fic. Hope you enjoy! This fic is really heart-wrenching and I liked to cried writing this prologue, let alone thinking of what’s going to happen next.

Niall walks to his car, the one his parents bought him last September for his sixteenth birthday. It still looks new, and he’s pretty proud that he’s able to have the only car out of all of his friends. Speaking of, he’s picking up the rest of the boys for a night out, it’s February and they’re all going out for Harry’s birthday. It had snowed last week and there were still patches of ice everywhere, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary in Michigan for this time of year.

He looks down at the pamphlet of a culinary school he just received in the mail and smiles, unlocking the door and getting in. He’d been interested in this school since he and Harry had done some research about it a few years ago, and now that he had the glossy pamphlet in his hand, he wanted to know what the guys thought about it.

Quickly sending a text to Louis that he was heading his way, Niall started the car and backed out of his driveway, heading to school to pick Louis up from practice.

Meanwhile, Louis is sitting on the couch in the coach’s office when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. The coach is discussing a baseball scholarship to a college he wants to go to. He’s excited because this means he’ll be living his dream and he can’t wait to tell the guys about it, they’re going to be excited.

“Keep that right arm strong and you’ll go far.” His coach says as he’s dismissed. Louis takes his phone out to see the text from Niall. He smiles and sends a response of ‘k’ and then texts Liam that they are coming.

Liam is fiddling with his camera, making sure that the camera is loaded and he’s got plenty of extra film for the night. He checks his phone every few minutes, wondering when the rest of the boys are getting here. They’ve planned a surprise get together for Harry, something special for his sixteenth. After a few moments, he hears the ding of a new text message, clicking his phone off after seeing that it’s a text from Louis, he jumps off the couch in Harry’s living room as he wanders into the kitchen, where Harry’s fixing a salad.

“Hey wrap that up, Louis just texted. Niall needs us, his gold fish just died. Let’s go.” Liam thought up a quick lie to hurry Harry out the door.

Harry rolls his eyes. He knows that the boys have been planning something for his sixteenth birthday because they aren’t very good at hiding things, but he goes along with it anyhow because it’s the thought that counts.

“Oh right, his goldfish…” Harry pulls out some plastic wrap and wraps the bowl of salad up and sticks in the refrigerator before being shooed out the door by a very obvious Liam, camera in hand. Harry knows Niall doesn’t have a goldfish.

Once Niall pulls up with Louis in the car, Liam gets in the back seat behind Niall and Harry takes his place behind Louis, who gives the two boys a cheesy smile.

“Sorry about your goldfish.” Harry looks at Niall, trying his best comforting look.

Niall’s face contorts in a confused expression before answering. “What goldfish?”

Liam smacks him in the back of the head and everyone laughs. Niall catches on a moment afterwards and a light hue of pink scatters across his nose, cheeks, and neck. If Harry guesses, it has probably went all the way down below the material of his tee shirt too.

“Oh, yes,” Niall puts on a solemn face, like someone had just died, and shakes his head like he’s about to cry. “Oh yeah, my poor Tootie Fruity.”

Louis shoots back a funny expression at Niall, as if to voice ‘what the hell?’ because everyone knows Niall can’t act worth a damn.

Before Harry could come up with a witty comeback to Niall, Louis has turned around and thrown some sort of pink confetti all over him and yells: “Surprise, Happy Birthday Harriet!”

Harry shakes his head, trying to get the confetti out of his hair and notices that it’s shaped in little pink hearts and he shouldn’t be surprised because it’s Louis. What really surprises him is that Niall let Louis throw it in his car, but then smiles because it’s also Niall. But looking down, Harry can see the floorboard is covered, and even if Niall had agreed, he’s not going to be happy.

Liam has been taking pictures the whole time of the boys, and doesn’t miss the moments between Harry and Louis, his eyes crinkling shut because he’s laughing so hard. “Where do you wanna go?” He asks Harry between laughs.

Harry is looking at Niall with an amused expression as he very proudly states: “Let’s go to a sushi bar. I’m in the mood for some fish.”

Niall frowns a bit before catching on and laughs hysterical as he puts the car in drive. The other boys are in a fit of laughs, poking fun of Niall until they reach the restaurant that has been Harry’s favorite. It’s an a little Italian restaurant with the best breadsticks in Michigan.

They make a big deal to the staff that it’s Harry’s birthday, and embarrass him fully when they join in when the staff is singing to him in front of the whole restaurant. Harry doesn’t mind, because this is probably one of the best birthday’s he’s had.

Liam doesn’t miss taking pictures of Harry’s laugh as Louis shakes his ass to the music they play when they’re singing, and he doesn’t miss him blowing out his candles and his surprised face when Louis throws more of that pink heart confetti at him.

Later the boys go to the local go cart racetrack, racing a few laps. Louis wins in the end cause he’s cheated by running everyone off the track at least twice.

It’s now 9 o’clock and the groups decided to head back to Harry’s place to have a movie night with all the best action movies they own.

Niall throws an arm around Harry’s shoulder, pulling him close to plant a soft kiss on his cheek, a smile beaming from both boys. “So Hazza, how does it feel to be sixteen? You lived this long.”

Louis interrupts them before Harry could respond. “Oi! You love birds, not in public! There could be perverts lurking about… like me!” he runs and jumps on them.

Liam laughs, snapping pictures as fast as his camera could take. It’s a rather old one, as he prefers film instead of a digital, but he couldn’t part with it if his life depended on it. It had been a birthday present from the guys two years prior.

They all pile in the car. The atmosphere is full of laughs and jokes and pictures as Liam wants to document every moment of Harry’s birthday.

Niall starts the car and heads in the familiar direction of Harry’s house. They come to a stop light as the two boys in the front seats start to argue.

“I’m not vacuuming your car, you agreed to the confetti.” Louis retorts, crossing his arms in a mock pout. “I thought leprechauns loved glitter anyway.”

“That’s fairies you twat!” Niall protests, rolling his eyes at his friend.

While the boys continue to argue about who’s going to clean Niall’s car tomorrow, Harry has an amused expression as he’s watching them. Liam is smiling and leans over, poking Harry’s leg softly to get his attention.

“Having a good birthday?”

Before Harry can respond to that question, he hears Niall grow quiet in midsentence as he’s looking at his rearview mirror, eyes wide.

Louis is about to ask what’s wrong when all four of the boys feel the car being shoved forward violently into oncoming traffic.

Niall’s knuckles are white as he’s gripping the steering wheel firmly. “No no no no no…” he trials off as they seemed to have hit a sheet of ice and now are swerving around in arch.

Niall is trying to gain control of the car; all he’s focused on is getting the boys to safety. His heart is hammering in his chest and all he can hear is the blood pounding in his ears. The only thought in his mind is that all the boys better make it out alive before another impact has him slamming his head against his window, and everything goes black.

When Niall grows quiet, Louis looks at him confused, unsure what exactly is going on. He’s about to ask what’s wrong when the car lunges forward. He braces himself, resting his right hand on the dashboard and he’s pretty sure he’s broken his wrist, but there isn’t time to worry about that right now as their car is tail spinning out of control.

There is a split second when they finally stop. Louis is in the process of turning to look to see if the rest of the boys are okay when he spots it. All he sees is headlights and hears tires screeching, but he’ll later come to find out that it was his own screams. He comes to the realization that it’s going to hit Harry. All he can do is call out Harry’s name before the car hits them. He tries to brace himself for another impact and he feels the sudden jerk, something hard hits him in his right side, jerking his head backwards, hitting it against the glass. The last thing he sees is the blood gushing out of Niall’s forehead.

Harry is in the process of turning his head to respond to Liam when he catches Niall’s face. Harry can see the lights in Niall’s eyes. Before he can tense, they’re hit. The car slides forward and he’s got his arm against the door trying to keep him from hitting his head as they are spinning.

For a brief moment, Harry looks out his window and his eyes go wide. The car is coming impossibly fast, and Harry knows it’s going to hit his door head on, there is no way the car can stop in time. Niall’s voice is ringing in his ears ‘ _you lived this long’_  because he knows  _‘this is the moment I’m going to die_.’

Moments before the impact, however, he feels arms wrapping around him and pulling him backwards. A body engulfs him, and he knows it Liam. The last thing he hears is Niall saying what seemed to be ‘no’s’ and a scream that must be coming from Louis and everything is silenced.

Liam realizes something wrong, but before he can warn any of the guys about the truck behind them barreling towards them, it hits, sending them forward. He has no time to think because in his mind it’s all _harryharryharry_. He’s fumbling with his seatbelt, trying to get it off before he has the breathe knocked out of him.

He’s got to get to Harry, that’s all he can think about. He’s worried about the others of course, but Harry is the baby, he always needs protecting. He finally gets his seat belt off and flings himself on Harry, pulling him under and against him, shielding him from the next impact seconds before it hits. The last image Liam see’s before everything is wiped away and everything goes silent is Harry’s face; white and wide eyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on [tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks for this fic can be found [here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	2. Come to my rescue.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.

Liam wakes with a start, Harry’s face implanted in his mind. This isn’t the first time in ten years that he’s woken up with cold sweat, tears, and fear from reliving the accident in his dreams. In fact, in the beginning he used to wake up every night, several times a night, to Harry’s white, pale face.

There had always been arms to cuddle into back then. Back when all four boys had the same reoccurring dream and all need comforting. Niall, Harry, and Louis all took turns calming a distraught Liam. Even now, if they heard him whimpering and thrashing about in his bedroom, he’d feel arms wrap around him, shushed whispers in his ear to calm down, it is only a dream and that he is safe. He’d fall back asleep shortly afterwards.

This time, he’s the only one there, and that’s okay. He’s relived this particular nightmare over and over again for the past ten years and it takes him less time to recover himself these days. Even so, it takes him a moment to realize that he’s not actually in the accident anymore and that he’s alive and well, relatively speaking.

He wipes his eyes, feeling trail of tears that already fallen and he could still feel the remains of more unshed tears. Liam collects himself, taking in a deep breath before sliding out of his bed. He can hear someone’s in the kitchen; it’s probably Harry, as he smells bacon cooking.

He turns of his radio that is constantly playing when he’s in there before walking to the bedroom door; he taps the door before turning the doorknob and opening it. Before he could step out, Harry’s there. Harry takes one look at Liam and seems to know everything.

“It is an orange juice or chocolate milk kind of morning?” And Liam sort of smiles at this question.

For ten years, Harry has been the one to fix him chocolate milk, adding a bit of whipped cream on top for the mornings in which Liam would wake up in tears. It started to become a thing because it sort of became a comfort to have a glass of chocolate milk made just for him.

“Chocolate.” Is all Liam has to say as Harry pats him on the shoulder and guiding him to the kitchen, letting him sit down before the curly haired boy is off to pour a glass of milk. The news is on in the background while Harry has been cooking. Liam hears the sound of the whipped cream can being emptied on top of the milk and Harry saying something about needing a new can, before he’s back and setting the glass down with a thud in front of him.

Liam slides his hand around the glass, lifting it up and pulling it to his lips as he takes a sip, the sweetness of chocolate invading his senses. Just then he feels a gentle squeeze on his shoulder and smiles as he also knows who that is.

Niall runs his hands through his hair as he walks past Liam and right beside Harry to give him a quick kiss, as Harry is still in the middle of making breakfast. “Morning babe.”

Harry beams at him, and swats away his hand as he tries to steal a piece of bacon right out of the pan. “Morning, and stop that. Breakfast will be done in a moment. Go fix Liam and you some cereal.” He cranes his neck a bit to look over at Liam for a moment before looking back at his mate with a knowing look.

Niall sighs softly, nodding his head and going to get two bowls out of the cupboard. He quickly pours him and Liam a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, complete with milk and a spoon as he slides one of the bowls to Liam and sits down beside him at the bar.

“How’s it going Lili?” Niall says, shoveling a spoonful of Cheerios in his mouth.

Liam shrugs, “Better now,” still sipping on his chocolate milk before putting it down to take a bite of his own cereal.

“That’s good.” His words are muffled a little as he’s trying to talk around a mouth full of food.

Harry throws a piece of egg at him. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s rude.”

Liam laughs and Niall shrugs, continuing to shovel in spoonfuls of cereal.

“Slow it down there buddy, no one is going to steal that cereal away from you. ‘Cept Liam, and somehow, I think you can scarf if down before that happens.” A chuckle coming from somewhere behind.

Louis joins the groups, all freshly showered and smelling nice and he goes to put some bread in the toaster for the boys. He takes one look at Liam and looks over at Harry, who’s giving him a small smile as he slides three pieces of bacon apiece on three plates.

He had tried to get Liam to eat more than his usual bowl of cereal, but the raving health nut won’t have anything to do with the ‘fried heart attack’.

The boys quickly get into their usual morning routines. Harry, Niall, and Louis sit and enjoy their cooked breakfast as Liam listens to the daily playful banter between them, quickly immersing himself in it.

This is a typical morning with the guys, and Liam doesn’t think he’d have it any other way. It’s the little bit of constant in his life, the little bit of ‘normal’ that he doesn’t think he can live without. They’ve been together for ten years like this, living close together and now, all four lived under the same roof. Louis and Liam having their own bedrooms, while Niall and Harry shared.

Louis is the first to get up, taking his dirty dishes to the sink and rinsing the leftover food away before putting them in the dishwasher. The guys go over each other’s schedules before Louis proudly states, “I started a new case. He’s an eight year old, his mother just died, but he’s a trooper.” He eyes Liam with the last statement for a moment before grabbing his keys and saying his goodbyes.

Louis works as a kid’s counselor on the other side of town. While the job is a little further away than he would have liked, he thoroughly enjoys helping kids who have been less fortunate than most. He is lucky to find something he really enjoyed after the accident, because his dreams of playing in the major leagues had been crushed, literally.

Once Louis is gone, Niall is the next one to finish his breakfast and mirror the actions of Louis previously, rinsing off his dishes and sticking them in the dishwasher to be washed later. “I’ll see you later at the restaurant Hazza, and Liam, I’ll bring you some lunch on my break.”

Liam nods at him, finishing up his cereal and drinking the rest of the milk out of the bowl when he hears Harry and Niall kiss, something he likes to avoid when they do cutesy stuff like that.

“See ya babe,” is all Harry says while Niall leaves, making sure he takes his bus pass with him, as the restaurant is closer to where they live than Louis’ job that he could probably walk there, but the bus is faster.

Niall is the head chef at a restaurant that he and Harry work at, they both love their jobs, but they want to own their own restaurant one day. At the moment, they are both currently adding part time jobs to save up enough money to do just that.

Once the last two boys are done with breakfast, Harry takes the dishes to the sink, puts them in the dishwasher and starts them as he and Liam wonders into the living room to curl up on the couch to watch their regular shows. The rest of the boys poke fun of Harry and Liam’s obsession of soap operas, but they really have become quite addicted.

They make comments ever so often about something a character says or a situation in which the character find themselves in, both secretly thanking God that there life isn’t this crazy.

Harry is the last to leave, after they’ve finished their shows and he’s sure Liam is truly okay with him going to work.

“For the twentieth time, I’m really okay. I’ll see you at dinner tonight. We’re still all meeting at the restaurant right?”

Harry smiles up at his friend. “Yes, we are. Just- just call me if you need to talk, alright?”

Liam nods and smiles. “Now go before you’re late.” He chuckles, playful pushing Harry out of his lap.

Laughing, Harry sighs in defeat. “Alright, alright, but don’t forget, Niall’s coming with some lunch.” And with that sentence, he leaves the house. Harry locks the door behind him, and unlocks the bike he uses daily from the porch. The back tire bounces lightly down the stairs as he half lifts it up and sets it down on the pavement.

Harry doesn’t ride in any type of vehicles anymore, not since the accident and boy have the guys tried. That just something he was left with. Louis and Liam lost their dreams, Niall has his guilt, and Harry has his fear. Ever since the accident ten years ago, each of their lives has changed. They adapted, but there were certain things about them that would never be the same; Liam, probably being the one who had to adapt the most.

Liam has two part time jobs; he works a hotline for troubled teens and also works at a radio station. He’s come a long way from wanting to snap pictures of everything. It’s been about ten and a half years since he’s picked up a camera, and he won’t ever again. That’s just how thinks worked out in the end.

+

It’s seven o’clock now and it’s time for Liam to head to the restaurant to meet up with the rest of the boys for dinner. They try to eat together as much as they can. Ever since the accident, the boys had been inseparable and when none of them could face going anywhere in their hometown without being reminded of their lives before the accident, they all convinced their parents they needed to move away together.

It hasn’t been easy, but life would have been even harder if they had gone at it alone. Liam doesn’t know what he would have done the moment he woke up in that hospital bed and none of the lads were there to calm him down. All he had then and now were the boys, and he owed his life to them.

Slinging his backpack that carried all the essentials that he might ever need over his shoulder, Liam pulled out his white cane and puts on his blacked out glasses and he heads out. He walked the ten blocks to the restaurant, trailing his hands against the sides of the building as he walks. He hates pulling out the cane because he hates being labeled right off the bat. He likes it better when he had one of the guys walking with him because that means he can hold on to them instead.

His ‘condition’ left him with a definite affinity with textures. As his fingertips brushed up against the different materials of Washington, D.C buildings, Liam described to himself exactly what each one feels like, even though he had done this about hundred times in the last two years they had moved here.

It didn’t take him long to get to the restaurant and Louis is waiting for him outside. “Oi! There you are! I thought we were going to have to tie Nialler to a chair so he wouldn’t steal the food out of the kitchen. Come on slow poke.”

Liam laughs, putting his cane in his backpack as Louis has now taken his arm and guiding him to the table that other two are sitting at, no doubt having a couple’s moment.

They quickly fall into their usual banter, picking on Niall’s bottomless pit of a stomach, while Louis talks a little about his new case and Harry talks about how they have hired three new waiters and all of them are incapable of taking orders. Liam keeps quiet, mostly, except when he’s expecting to chime in or when one of the boys is laying it on one another too heavily. Louis tells him he’s talking in his ‘daddy’ voice then.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you guys.” Harry pipes in whenever the boys are finished with their meals. “I got a new part time job. It’s actually between here and home, so no extra walking.” He beams; Liam can hear it in his voice.

“What’s this new part time job?” Liam asks, finishing his glass of ice water.

This is where Harry grows quiet and Niall is in a fit of giggles. “It’s an art supple store.” Niall says between laughing fits.

And Liam gets why it’s so funny now, because out of the four, Harry is probably the least likely to know anything about art, let alone the supplies needed to do any type of art.

“It’s a job.” He hears Harry mumble from across the table, and Liam and Louis join Niall in his laughing fit.

+

Unlocking the door to an art supply shop, a raven-haired boy curses as he drops his keys on the pavement. He should have known better to hold so much crap in his hands at once, but he was lazy and didn’t want to go back to his car to get his sketchbook and his lunch for today.

Zayn Malik works in the only art supply store within a fifteen mile radius, behind it, there is a gallery that showcases local artists painting, sculptures, and drawings. The owner of the store is also the owner of the gallery and because of that, Zayn has had a few pieces showcased there. Yes, Zayn is an artist. He draws and charcoals, but his specialty is painting. He just loves bringing life to canvas with colors.

He sets his stuff down on the front counter and goes to take down the ‘Now Hiring’ sign out of the window. He’s supposed to be training the new kid today. He’s looked over the application of one Harry Styles and he seriously can’t figure out for the life of him why the owner hired him. He has no experience in the art scene, but the owner has insured him that the boy will be a ‘great help’ to the store, whatever that means.

Zayn settles behind the counter, grabbing his sketchpad and pencil and starts doodling little images, trying to figure out how to capture the sunlight just right on sidewalk on a street through black and white. He’s so into his sketch that he doesn’t hear the door jingle to the sound that someone has entered. He only looks up when the person accidently bumps into a stand that rattles the paint standing on the shelves.

The boy looks like a scared Chihuahua. Zayn decides he has to be a customer, maybe someone who’s just started in the art business or here to buy something for his friend. Zayn puts his book down, stepping from behind the counter and catching a paint bottle that fell from the shelf as the boy bumped into once again when he saw Zayn approaching him.

“Can I help you find something?” Zayn tried not to sound agitated when he spoke, trying to get between the paint stand and the customer so the thing didn’t collapse to the ground.

Shaking his head, the boy looks up at Zayn. “I’m H-Harry, Harry Styles, I’m starting today.” And  _oh_. Zayn has to keep from rolling his eyes because it’s clear that Harry has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.

“Harry? Ahh yes, I’m Zayn; I’ll be training you today. If you want to put your things in the back, I’ll get started with your orientation.” He nods at the water bottle and bagged lunch that the lad has brought with him.

When the boy leaves to where Zayn points, he can only think that today is probably going to be the longest day of his life. He hadn’t signed up to babysit, and that’s what he figures this is upon meeting the guy. But if anyone could teach Harry about art supplies, its Zayn, so he better get started because he figures this was going to be a long processes.

He ate his words, however, as the day progressed. While Harry had a few minor setbacks when suggesting a size brush for a customer, he was surprisingly a quick learner. He had plenty of retail experience, so the cash register wasn’t that big deal for him to learn, and anyone knew how to clean. At the end of the day, Zayn didn’t have much reservation that Harry would work out. And come to find out, the lad was actually pretty funny, in an odd sort of way.

At closing, Zayn notices that Harry is riding a bike, but doesn’t say anything as he watches him peddles away as Zayn gets into his car. He thinks it’s sort of strange, but maybe he doesn’t live that far away from the place.

Zayn drives to a restaurant that he’s familiar with. The owner knows him by name, the hostess know his order, all he has to do is show up and they’ve got it ready for him within minutes. He parks his car, and walks inside. He sits in his usual seat, next to some photographs that were taken by a local photographer. At least that’s all he could get out of the owner when he asked him where he could buy them from.

He loves how the photographer captured the city life, of what he believes is Detroit. It ‘speaks’ to him because that’s exactly what he aims for in his own art. He’s been coming here for about a year and a half, ever since he discovered the restaurant and these paintings and it just sucked him in. He can’t go a day without stopping by and just gazing at the photos. He was sure that the owner would probably get annoyed how he treated the photos like he was in an art gallery, but he hasn’t said a word about it since Zayn told him how much he loved them.

After finishing his meal, he heads home, to his less than mediocre studio apartment, feeds his dog Boyce and Skype’s with a few of his friends from school that he had met back in New York. They laugh and joke and talk about things that are going on in their lives.

“Hey man, how’s the stuff for your showing going? I just got my tickets; I’m flying out to come to your opening.”

Zayn smiles at this. Things have been going well, he’s almost done with his second to the last piece and he just needs some sort of inspiration to start his last piece. “Great man, I’m sort of nervous.”

“Nah man, you’ll do great, I’ve seen your work.”

He can’t help but keep smiling as he bids his friends farewell and exits out of the screen before going to his makeshift studio to continue on the painting he’s working on. This is what his life consists of; art, art and more art.

The next couple of days go by with sort of a blur. Harry turns out to be not as bad as Zayn originally thought, he kind of reminds him of his little sister who’s too innocent for her own good.  But he’s noticed little things about the boy that just doesn’t add up.

Loud noises scare him, more so than it does most people. He freezes and it takes him forever to calm Harry down in order to function properly. He always has to have music playing or be talking. If the store is too quiet or Zayn is busy working on his next idea for his paintings, Harry will turn on the radio so it will be softly playing in the background. He’s also noticed that there is a blond boy who walks him to work a lot. He’s seen Harry clinging to him, so he knows something up with that. Above all, he’s asked on several occasions if Harry wants a lift home, but he’s thanked him and turned him down each and every time, seeming content to peddle even in the wettest weather back home or to his next job.

He also heard some rumors as customers come in and realize just who the new guy is that they hired. He’s heard whispers of four guys living in the same house, and while Zayn, himself, doesn’t think it’s weird, he does find it a little weird that the customers seemed to have made up ridiculous stories to explain Harry and the rest of the boys strange behavior; gay drug-related orgies have probably been his favorite theory he’s heard so far.

While Zayn has made small talk with Harry, he’s not really asked him any personal questions, nor has he really gotten off the subject of work with the boy since his first day. But the curiosity is about to kill him, so it’s on Harry’s second week working here when he finally breaks down and asks the boy.

“If you work at a restaurant, why do you work here?”

“Oh, well me and my  _roommate_ ,” Zayn’s pretty sure that the blond is the ‘roommate’ that Harry is talking about, and he’s also pretty sure he’s much much more than just a simple roommate, but he lets him continue without interrupting. “We want to own our own restaurant one day, and we need as much money as we can get.”

The odd second jobs make sense now. “Wow, that’s amazing. So, is it just you and your roommate? Do you have any friends here?”

Harry seems to know where this is going and he’s closing off a bit, Zayn can see it in his actions. “Well, err, we live in a house with two other guys.” And that’s where he leaves off because some customers come in and he’s quick to go off to help them before continuing the conversation.

Zayn watches him for a bit before he heads in the back to do some inventory, as he knows if Harry really runs into trouble, he’ll come get him and he really needs to do it before they close in three hours.

About twenty minutes later, he hears a crash and he comes running out to see Harry, covered in all kinds of colors of paint and too see most of the display of paint all over him and the floor. Zayn can’t help but laugh as Harry looks so scared that he’s going to get punished.

“You alright there?” he walks closer, careful not to slip on the paint as he grabs a towel for Harry to wipe his face with.

Harry nods at him, taking the towel gratefully. And when he sees that Zayn’s chuckling at him, a wide grin splays across his face.

After that incident, it was a lot easier to talk to Harry. It was like they needed something to just break the ice before they could ‘click’. One morning, Zayn found Harry smiling from ear to ear as he found Zayn’s drawing of him with paint all over him waiting for him on the register. Zayn had laughed, “You’re welcome Harry.”

It was a Thursday afternoon and the store had been sort of slow, Harry looked a little antsy, checking outside the window every few moments as it looked like it might rain. After about the hundredth time, Zayn sighed, looking up.

“Go home Harry, I’ll see you tomorrow, I can close up by myself.” He gives Harry a smile.

“Err, thanks mate! I owe you, I have to pick up milk for tonight’s dinner.” He beams as he grabs his stuff and heads out the door.

An hour later, Zayn needs a smoke because he’s nicking badly and he hasn’t had one practically all day. He goes out the front, leaning against the front window of the store as he lights up a cigarette. When he slides his lighter back into his pocket, that’s when he notices something strange. Harry’s bike is still here, lying on the ground across the road. He frowns, looking around to see if Harry was anywhere to be seen.

He hears a commotion coming from the alleyway across the street and Zayn wonders what’s going on. He quickly runs across the street, knowing that he’s left the store unlocked and waiting for anyone just to come in, but the sounds are unmistakable. Someone’s in trouble.

Zayn hears the guys before he realizes what’s happen, before he sees Harry’s terrified face. The younger boy is kicking and screaming, beating on the glass. His voice is muffled, but Zayn’s pretty sure he’s pleading with the group of boys to let him out. He’s never seen Harry this vulnerable. It’s truly heartbreaking.

“Fucking faggot! You deserve to stay in there. Your boyfriend isn’t here to protect you now. Why are you so scared of cars?” one of the boys leers.

“Yeah! Let’s see how long it takes him to completely freak out.” The other boy barks.

Zayn’s pretty sure Harry has past that point, but he doesn’t want to find out if he can go any further.

“Hey! Leave him alone, let him out.” Zayn yells at the guys as they turn their attention on him instead.

Zayn hasn’t really ever been a fighter, but Harry reminds him of his sister, and he’s not about to let anyone bully him because he’s different from them.

“What’s it to you terrorist? We’re just having a little fun with the curly fag.” And Zayn clutches his fist, not because of the jeer at him, but because of the ignorance dripping from his words. He slings his fist at the boy, making contact with the boys’ nose, and he’s pretty sure he’s broken it before he runs to the passenger side of the back seat, trying the door.

It’s locked and he glares at the other boy who’s not bending over in pain. “Open it.”

The boy takes a hint and hits the unlock button with unsteady hands. Zayn’s got the door open and Harry in his arms before anything else can be said.

“Harry, are you okay? Everything’s okay, I’m here. Let’s get you home.” He states, soothingly as he rubs circles in his back as he helps the younger boy to his feet and walks him back to the store, glaring at the boys, daring them to make another move towards them.

He stops at the store, guiding Harry inside, as he leans him against the doorway, the boy is still shaking like a leaf and he hasn’t said anything to him since he’s screamed to the boys to let him out. Zayn puts his bike in the store, and guides Harry back out of the store, and he locks it. He’s pretty sure Harry isn’t there anymore as he mindlessly walks beside Zayn.

Zayn knows where he lives because he remembers the address on Harry’s application. They make their way there, with no words exchanging between them because Zayn knows he needs his friends because he’s sure that they’ve seen this side of Harry before. Terrified and scared.

They make it to Harry’s house all in one piece, and Zayn knocks on the door, an arm around Harry to support him more than comfort him now. The door quickly opens up, revealing a boy about Zayn’s height, light brown hair, and probably the most fit person he’s every laid eyes on.

Harry immediately withdrawals from Zayn, heading straight into the boys arms. This isn’t the boy that usually walks Harry to his job; this boy, he’s never seen before.

“Harry? What’s wrong, what happened? Who’s with you?” Zayn’s breath catches, he’s in deep shit. He also thinks he’s found his inspiration for his last piece.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on [tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks for this fic can be found [here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	3. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: omg i don’t know what happened. its extremely long and oh the feels! this chapter explains some stuff about liam and you get a closer look at all of the boys and how they interact with everyone and each other
> 
> tumblr: ziaminmypants

The boy looks worried, confused, and above all, concerned for Harry’s well-being. Zayn can’t put his finger on why he isn’t looking straight at him when he asks who he is, but its Harry who pipes up before Zayn can answer any of those questions.

“Z-Zayn, I work with him, he brought me home.” Harry says in a trembling voice, and the boy with the brown hair rubs soothing circles on Harry’s back.

The boy, who seems more like an older brother than a lover, Zayn has decided, leads Harry somewhere back in the house, while Zayn stands there awkwardly. He’s torn between coming in and shutting the door or standing there until he’s invited in. But from the looks of it, they’re going to be occupied for a bit, so Zayn steps inside, shutting the door, which the two housemates seemed to have forgotten.

He stands in the foyer, daring not to go any further than this without being verbally asked to. He feels like he’s witnessing something he shouldn’t when he hears soft crying in one of the bedrooms. But he’s too hyped up, too curious to leave.

It takes twenty minutes before Zayn sees the boy emerge from the room that undoubtedly is Harry’s.

The boy still isn’t looking at him when he speaks to him. “Thanks for bringing him. Would you like some tea?”

His tone is nice enough and Zayn nods, but remembers that the boy isn’t looking at him, so he answers. “Sure.”

That’s all the exchange they have until they’re deep into their tea and the boy finally offers his name. “Oh, I’m sorry, where are my manners? My name’s Liam.”

 _Liam_. What a unique name? Well, maybe not as unique as Zayn, but now he has a name with a face that he won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

The boys grow quiet again. Liam puts his empty mug on the counter as he almost cringes at what he’s about to bring up next.

“What happened? I couldn’t get Harry to calm down long enough to tell me. He was hysterical.”

Zayn swallows his mouthful of tea before mimicking Liam’s actions and setting it down. He really didn’t know where to begin; honestly he was still trying to comprehend what happened himself.

He goes into a play-by-play of what he’d seen happen, leaving out the fact that the guys had used the term ‘faggot’ in their jeers at Harry. Zayn wasn’t sure why he did it, it could have been the fact that he wanted to keep Harry safe, or because Liam looked entirely too innocent to ever hear those words.

Not once does Liam look him in the eye, not once does he go five minutes without frowning or furrowing those adorably thick eyebrows while he listens, just listens, to Zayn’s rehash earlier events. And all Zayn thinks about the entire time is how he can wipe that crease from Liam’s forehead, and turn up the corners of those pretty lips because they don’t look at home on that angelic puppy face. It’s a good thing Liam isn’t looking at him, because Zayn would have probably scared him with all the staring. That’s when he realizes that he’s getting in too deep.

After answering all of Liam’s questions, Liam tell him he needs to call the rest of the guys, and Zayn smiles.

“Thank you again for everything, for protecting Harry.” Liam says before pulling out his phone from his pocket.

“It’s really nothing.” And Zayn doesn’t miss the almost sad smile that crosses Liam’s lips. He’s curious to see what that is about but decides that he’s done enough creepiness for tonight and excuses himself. “But I best be going. Tell Harry not to worry about his shift tomorrow, just to get some rest. And that I’ll see him when he’s feeling up to it.”

Liam keeps thanking him, even as he is walking out the door.  _I’m so screwed_ , he thinks once more as he walks his way home.

*****  
After Zayn leaves, Liam calls the guys, letting them know that Harry’s home, and as little as possible the details surrounding what happened because he knows if he told them everything they’d kill themselves to get home as soon as possible. Though, he’s pretty sure they will anyways.

And he’s completely right.

After he hangs up with Niall, the Irish lad practically runs home, and while he’s the closest between him and Louis, taking the bus would take too long. He’s given up vehicles in general after the accident. Not only because he has no desire to drive anymore, but because Harry doesn’t have anything to do with them either.

Niall gets there first, opening the door and rushing to his and Harry’s bedroom. He doesn’t make too much noise because Liam calls out to him that Harry’s finally asleep, but he just has to make sure that Harry’s completely okay, that he’s whole and not in pieces. That he’s still alive. He needs that piece of mind.

Louis is at work when Liam calls. He’s in the middle of paperwork when he answers and he’s out the door soon after. He vaguely hears his boss yell after him that he needs that report by tomorrow. Louis will finish it tomorrow.

He is there in record time. Louis is more of the sensible one when it comes to emergencies; he had to grow up quickly after the accident. Especially when Liam was unconscious because the other boys needed him and even after Liam woke. He was the one to pick up the pieces. He was the one that held Harry as he cried for his boyfriend and best friend lying in bed who were unconscious those late nights at the hospital. He was the one that helps Liam come to terms with his condition.

Louis patted Liam’s back as the younger boy set three mugs of tea on the bar. “I’ll get Niall.” He states, as he walks past, knowing exactly where Niall is going to be.

He finds Niall slouched down on the floor, watching Harry sleep. He shakes his head and chuckles lightly as not to wake a slumbering Harry. “Come on creeper, Liam made tea.”

Niall knows this means it’s a group meeting, and he’s curious about what happened to Harry, but he’s more concerned about Harry, so it takes him a bit, but he joins them at the bar to discuss the events of the day. He’s vowed that Harry won’t be walking home alone for a while, even if he has to switch all his shifts at the restaurant because of it.

Later that night, when he sneaks into the room, he wraps his arms around Harry, pulling him to him as he kisses the side of his head softly. Harry molds against him. Murmuring an ‘I love you’, Niall closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep.

****  
Zayn hasn’t heard anything from Harry since last night, and he’s been toying with the idea of calling Harry at home to see if he’s okay, maybe get a chance to talk to the mysterious Liam, but then quickly throws that idea out because he’s not sure if he should bother them at the moment.

He doesn’t have to, though, because he sees Harry with a blondish male walking him to the door. He’s come to know with the many conversations with Harry throughout their work day that this is Niall, and while Harry states shyly that he’s a ‘roommate’, Zayn knows exactly what that entails.

The blond walks Harry in and this is new. They seem to be talking in hushed tones, and Zayn suddenly feels likes he’s intruding again, as Harry and Niall seem to be only there with one another. Harry, though, looks over and smiles brightly at Zayn, and he smiles back.

“Hey, I’m Niall; I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. I just wanted to come in and thank you for what you did for Harry here. Not many people would do that, so thank you.” He seems way too serious about not many people would help Harry, and Zayn wonders just how many people would help the four boys. Can’t be many with the stories and rumors he’s heard about them.

“It’s not a problem.” Zayn replies and Niall seems to like that answer because he offers his hand to shake. Once they’ve exchanged a handshake, Niall smiles and quickly pecks Harry, saying his goodbyes and exchanging looks before heading out the door.

Zayn’s not sure what he’s just witness, but he likes to think it’s one of those couple things.

“Harry, I didn’t think you’d be here today, I could do the shift by myself. It’s really okay. You need rest.”

Harry frowns a bit, like he’s trying to surf past the memories of yesterday. “No, no it’s better that I work.”

Zayn watches him for a moment before speaking. “Okay, well I put your bike in the back. You can get it whenever your shift ends if you like.”

“Thanks,” Harry says, “Again. I’m grateful. Here let me make it up to you. Hey! I work at a restaurant. Let me make you dinner. It’ll be free?” He says the last bit was more like a question as if it’s the last selling point he has.

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. Come on man, just accept it. I won’t take no for an answer.”

He supposes he can skip his usual eating place for Harry just his once. He can miss looking at those photos for one day, right?

“Alright.” Zayn agrees.

Harry smiles, and claps his hands together. “Great, I’ll take you over after work. Niall will be glad to know I’m not walking over there by myself anyways.” He says, Zayn thinks more of to himself than to Zayn.

****  
It’s the end of their shift and Zayn’s closing up the shop while Harry walks his bike to the front of the store. Zayn locks the front door when Harry’s out and proceeds to walk with Harry in the direction of the restaurant he works at.

It takes Zayn only a few minutes to realize, after they stop at a familiar building, that they are going to the same restaurant that he goes to on a daily bases.

Harry leaves him once they enter the building. “I’ll be back; just want to let Niall know I’m here and then we can sit and order if you like. I’ll make sure Niall’s the one that cooks it.” He adds before skipping off to somewhere in the back.

Zayn walks to his usual place, right in front of the photos while his honey brown eyes scan each aspect again and again. You would think as many times as he’s looked at the photographs, he’d know them like the back of his hand, and he supposes he does, but he never grows tired of them. They are probably his favorite work of art. He’s tried many times to look up the artist responsible, but he’s only got the initials and that’s not a lot to go on.

He doesn’t even realize Harry’s back until he hears him clear his throat. “Oh hey, sorry, just admiring the photos here. I always come here; it’s a small world really. I just started coming here regularly because I love the artwork.”

Harry falls silent for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows as he looks at the photos, like he’s remembering something he doesn’t want to be.

“I want to find out who the artist is; I want to see if I can buy some of his art. He’s really got a great eye for photography, but I haven’t had much luck with just the initials.”

Looking over at Harry, Zayn notices how quiet he’s become. “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to bore you about them. I just think their fascinating.”

“Oh, no no, you’re fine, really. But if you think it was a small world before, it’s about to get even smaller. Then person responsible for these photographs, you’ve already met them.

When Zayn gives him a puzzled expression, Harry continues. “Liam, the photographer is Liam.”

No wonder Zayn felt attracted to him, he was a fellow artist. “Oh really? Oh wow, do you think he’ll show me the rest of his stuff? Maybe even do some candid for me?”

The look on Harry’s face makes Zayn’s smile drop. “What, what’s wrong?”

Finally, Harry looks up at him. “Err, Liam doesn’t do photography anymore. In fact, he stays away from art completely.”

Now Zayn’s smile falters, that’s probably the most depressing news he’s received in the last year. Liam couldn’t quit, he’s too good.

“He doesn’t even go near a camera after the accident.”

Again, Zayn is confused. He’s heard whispers of something, but this was the first time he’s heard anything about Harry’s past, let alone any of the other boys he lives with.

“What accident? What happened?”

Harry’s had to deal with his question for ten years. He’s used to it, but it still doesn’t help with the constant replay of what happened that night in his mind.

“There was an accident a little over ten years ago, with all of us. We got hit twice, once in the rear, and once on my side. Liam pulled me away just in time. I came out with a couple of scratches, Niall a concussion, Liam and Louis weren’t so lucky. Louis’ right arm was crushed, he isn’t able to grip things firmly anymore, and his baseball career went up in flames after that. Liam, he… well he was the worst out of all of us because he took my impact.”

Zayn thinks Harry is about to break down right then and there. “Liam doesn’t touch a camera anymore for a reason. He doesn’t have anything to do with art. He even hated that me and Niall put these up in the restaurant, but he really has no choice in that.”

Zayn can’t really see how a simple accident can render a person from what seemed to their passion in life. What had happened to him?

Harry takes a break, exhaling slowly. “Liam is blind.”

Liam.

Liam,  _His_  Liam, is blind.

+

It’s just too  _creepy_ , Zayn thinks as he closes his browser for the third time in the past five minutes.

He’s in his crappy studio apartment and may or may not be contemplating Googling Liam Payne. He’s rationalized this down to the fact that he’s an artist and all he wants to do is learn more about another artist, who just happens to be someone he might have a thing for.

Yeah, it’s just too creepy. He can’t, but then again he doesn’t even know he’ll get any results. From what little he got from Harry is that Liam hasn’t done anything since the accident all the boys were involved in ten years ago, there probably isn’t any articles left to search through.

Then again, he wants to know  _everything_. He wants to know a little about the person behind those beautiful pictures he’s been obsessing over the past year and a half. It’s really the only way Zayn might even get any information about that part of Liam’s life, seeing as he’s so closed off about it.

He resolves that while yes, googling an almost complete stranger whom he just met and might like to lick his face, that the artist to artist thing is much more important and by chance if he learns more about the boy like his birthdate and where he was raised, than that is just considered a perk of researching fellow artists.

Before he can change his mind, Zayn is opening his browser, typing in the words ‘Liam Payne’ into the search bar and hitting enter before he can really think about what he’s doing. The results are too bad; in fact there is about ten pages in all, mostly Facebook pages. There are a ton of Liam Payne’s apparently in the world. He has to sort through them, finally finding an article and clicks the link, his eyes glued to the screen.

It a story about a local artist and three other boys: a star baseball player, and two others (he’s assuming are harry and niall), who got in a major car accident and they aren’t sure if Liam will live. He clicks out of it because he can’t read the rest; bile is slowly sliding up his throat. He’s not ready for that bit of information, at least not yet.

Maybe after he finds something about Liam’s artist side. Which he doesn’t have to look for long, the next link is from a paper in Michigan, probably the town’s paper he lived in at that time. It talks about his accomplishments, awards, that he had a promising future in photography. Zayn’s impressed because they’ve managed to include some of the pictures an eight,  _eight_ , year old Liam has managed to snap.

They’re breathtaking, to say the very least, Liam had a real talent. Among the pictures of his work, there is a picture of a smiling eight year old Liam, smiling into the camera with crinkle eyes and that lovely smile. He’s holding what Zayn could assume would be the camera he’s taken these beautiful pictures with in his hands. He looks so happy. So in place. Nothing like what he saw when he’s seen him now.

After reading the article twice and saving it in his bookmarks, he goes back to the search, clicking the article about the car crash. He reads the details about the car accident and nearly gasps when he learns that it’s Liam who saves Harry’s life. Liam who put his life in danger to protect a friend. He ended up in a coma and woke up blind because of it.

From what the article says, the accident was bad. While no one died, the Liam was the worst off. It explains a lot actually. The reason why he doesn’t pick up anything to do with photography anymore, while Harry says Liam doesn’t want anything to do with any art. He lost his dream.

He understands Harry’s hate for cars, and doesn’t blame him for not wanting to be in one after a car crash plummeted his best friends in a whirlwind of mess. Zayn probably wouldn’t want to see another car after that, let alone be put in one.

After closing out the browser and staring at the screen for a bit, Zayn resolves that he’s going to be the one to get Liam back into art one way or another. The only problem is that he needs to get Liam in his life. Now.

+

  
Zayn’s asleep on the desk. There hadn’t been customers for  _hours_. It’s not that he hasn’t had enough sleep, Zayn can just sleep anywhere and he was bored with nothing to do. He forgot his sketchpad at home and that’s what usually keeps him busy.

Usually the bell on the door wakes him up, letting him know that he has a customer to tend too. But it’s Harry who wakes him, slamming books next to his face, causing the raven-haired boy to jump almost ten feet in the air. Harry is  _giggling_  and Zayn narrows his eyes at him. “Oi!” Zayn exclaims, glad that he didn’t have to piss because that would have been embarrassing.

“Sleep well Sleeping Beauty?” Harry is chuckling going into the back to drop his stuff off, and back next to Zayn in no time.

“One of my professors used to do that to anyone in class. It was annoying.” He shot a look at Harry.

“Oh? Where did you go to school at?” Harry is absentmindedly flipping through a magazine now, not really reading anything but maybe looking at the pictures.

“Columbia, fine arts of course. Where’d you go?” cause he’s heard a bit about Harry and his passion for starting his own restaurant so he’s sure that he’s had to get a degree in something, maybe business and culinary.

“CIA in California. Niall and I went there together.” And Zayn isn’t surprised; he thinks those two did everything together.

“What brings you to Washington then?” Zayn is afraid to ask, because maybe it’s a reason that Harry might not want to discuss, but he is.

“Jobs basically. Nothing special.” He chuckles, looking over at Zayn. “You?”

“Err, well I sent out my portfolio and this is where I got most of the hits, you know. So I moved here and been here for three years. I got to know the owner of this store because he also owns the gallery attached. I got a job and a place to put my art on display for the public. Win-win, I guess.” He shrugs cause he’s not particularly good at telling people exactly just how the art industry works.

“We’ve been here two years. “

“So where you from?” Zayn already knows, but he doesn’t want to tell Harry that he googled Liam and wants to know more.

“Err, we all came from Michigan.” Harry offers, but that it and he’s real quiet afterwards, Zayn doesn’t push it further.

“How do you guys know each other?” He hears himself asking and he’s between mentally kicking himself and praising himself because this means Liam might likely be mentioned.

“We grew up together. Niall and Liam lived on my street since we were three, Louis came along right after that. We just all really clicked, you know, been together ever since.”

There is a sad tone to Harry’s voice, like he’s remembering something sad, but before Zayn can ask about it, he’s back to a smile and flicking pens across the surface of the desk.

“So err, what was Liam like? Before the accident.” Zayn asks, trying not to be too obvious, but he kind of thinks that Harry can see through him because now that curly-haired freak is looking at him with that smirk and Zayn wishes he could just die right there. Or that a customer would come in at that moment to save him from the embarrassment.

Harry answers, still with that knowing little smirk playing on his lips, like Zayn just told him a secret, and he guess he just did. But the moment he speaks, Harry loses it. Maybe it was the wrong thing to ask because now Harry looks like he’s about to cry.

“He was amazing, I mean he still is, but I think losing photography put him in a tailspin and he really hasn’t gotten on two feet yet. He laughed a lot.” Something glittered in Harry’s eye, like he’s remembering certain memories of Liam that he hasn’t forgotten over the years.

“He always had a camera attached to him. Always snapping pictures because he was always afraid he’d miss the perfect moment. Photography was very much his life. When- when he lost his sight, it wasn’t pretty, still isn’t. He just doesn’t know what to do with himself now, I think.” Harry voice has grown soft and Zayn wonders if he’s reliving the accident and the aftermath in his mind right there sitting next to Zayn.

Thankfully though, the door jingles and there are customers to put their minds on other things then what they were talking about.

+

  
“I think Zayn’s in love with Liam.” Harry blurts out that night while him and Niall are getting ready for bed, pulling the covers down and settling in together as Niall reaches over and turns the lamp off on the nightstand on his side.

Niall hesitates a little before pulling Harry close, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling him practically on top of him by the hip with the other. “What makes you say that? He’s only seen him once, right?”

Harry nods, not that Niall can see that in the darkness but they are so close together and so in tune with one another that he knows exactly what he does, even without looking.

“He asked about him.”

And Niall is a little confused. “Just because he asked about him, doesn’t mean that he’s in love with him.” Sometimes Harry’s thought process was even bizarre to him, and he’d had known him all his life.

“You’ll see, they’ll get together and live happily ever after, have kids and we’ll have to babysit.” Harry yawns after this, cuddling closer to Niall if that was physically possible.

Niall opens his mouth to try to bring reason to this ridiculous conversation but he knows there is no use. A sense of panic fills Niall because he comfortable with how things are now, no one needs to come in to toss any of this around. The boys are completely perfect living under the same roof and relying on one another on day to day bases.

But there really isn’t anything to worry about, Zayn has only seen Liam once, and Liam hasn’t found anyone he’s been interested in in a while. Plus there is a chance that Harry is making up all this and imagining everything.

Niall is about to speak when he hears Harry’s soft snores and smiled, wrapping his boyfriend up in his arms and follows him into a peaceful sleep.


	4. You're gonna regret that.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.

Usually, Liam gets up in the morning with the sound of  _beepbeepbeep_ of an alarm clock. Usually, Liam has time to orient himself for the day, staying in bed for a few minutes without being bothered by any of the guys making sure he was awake. Not this morning, no. This morning, one Louis Tomlinson is yelling at him to get up.

“Time for work you bum!” Liam groans, because he’s used to Louis antics, but not this early in the morning.

As he rolls over on his stomach to try to block out the annoying sounds of Louis, he feels the covers being pulled away from his body. He shivers, trying to reach out to grab the blankets or sheets or anything to protect him from the cruelness of Louis.

“Come on, love, you’ll be late and I promised to drive you to the station this morning.” He feels a light brush of fingers against his bare ankle and pulls his foot away instantly.

He has to cover a shift today at the radio station, and because it’s early, Louis has deemed it his job to drive him there. Most times he would be grateful, but not when it’s this early in the morning. Liam has barely wiped his eyes of sleep when he thinks of something. He’s fiddling around his nightstand for the clock. Louis has done this before, waking him up earlier than he needs to be woken up just to have a few laughs.

He finally finds the clock, and brushes his fingers against the surface, pressing the button that confirms in a mechanical voice that it is indeed time to get up. He mumbles as he fumbles out of bed and into the bathroom where he’s made to take a shower.

Louis must have already been up, showered, and dressed, because he is in the kitchen sipping coffee when Liam stumbles in, sitting on the bar stool. Liam still can’t see how Louis can be a morning person, all chipper and happy when it’s too damn early in the morning for that kind of stuff. None of the boys know how this happened, but they are equally displeased when they get the same wakeup calls in the morning.

“I really hope you’re not pulling my leg and getting me up at two am… again.” He sighs, taking the cup of coffee Louis slides his way. Louis must have already fixed it the way he likes because he can taste the sweetness of the cream and sugar. It’s almost scary how well the boys know each other.

“I’m offended! I never pull the same prank twice!” Louis sounds a little astonished that Liam would even suggest such a thing, but Liam wouldn’t put it past Louis, he always had something up his sleeve.

“What about the furniture?” Liam asks, because he’s always moving the furniture around on him. To most people that isn’t Louis; it would be cruel to move a blind persons’ surroundings. Liam, however, has gotten used to it because he really can’t stay mad at Louis for long and it he could appreciate a good prank once in a while. But now it was just plain annoying.

It takes Louis a moment to respond, but when he does, it’s in typical Louis fashion. “It’s never done the same way, so technically; I have never pulled the  _same_  prank twice.” Liam sighs, drinking the rest of his coffee.

When Louis hands him another cup of coffee, he knows something’s up. “It’s two am, isn’t it?!” he accuses again, pushing the mug away

He feels Louis come around the island and pat him on the top of the head. Next thing he knows, he’s being dragged by the arm somewhere. He doesn’t know where until he smells the unmistakable aroma of Harry and Niall’s room.

It’s not that their room stinks or anything, they just have a certain scent that Liam can tell apart from the rest of the house, just like Louis room smells like Louis, Niall and Harry’s room smells like them. When Liam lost his ability to see, all his other senses took on super human powers or something. A good sense of smell can be a curse sometimes though.

Louis turns on the light; Liam can hear the flick of the light bulbs. “Hey guys, what time is it?” Louis asks like he’s an announcer at a baseball game, because really who could be this loud this early in the morning but Louis.

Liam hears groans, mostly from Niall who doesn’t like to be interrupted while he’s asleep unless it’s by Harry. “If this is one of your pranks, I’mma kill you.”

Just as Liam is about to chuckle at Niall’s empty threat, he feels a soft ‘thud,’ which sounds unmistakably like a pillow hitting Louis. “Hey!” Louis shouts, which confirms Liam’s suspensions.

“It’s 5:38 in the morning! We don’t have to be up until later! Why?” Harry whines. Liam can imagine that Harry snuggles up to Niall who throws a protective arm around him after this remark. It’s scary how well he knows these guys.

“Now see what you did?” Niall’s accusing voice rings out before Liam is being pulled back out of the room and the door slams, Louis probably trying to dodge another pillow.

“See, I wasn’t lying, so get your shoes on, we’re going to be late.”

They are out the door in the next ten minutes, Louis muttering the whole time that Liam needs to trust him more. And that’s just it, Liam trusts Louis with his life, along with the other two boys, so he knows Louis is just blabbering just to hear himself talk.

+

Later, after Liam is puttering around the radio station on his routines and he’s actually in the booth at this time, reporting the weather he gets a call.

And Patrick must have not screened it because if he had then Louis voice would not be coming out of the other end. Liam suspects, later, that Louis just disguised his voice though.

“Oh I’ve never heard the weather sound so sexy before, I want your…” and Liam disconnects the call, exclaiming to the listeners that they must have had a bad connection or something.  _whoops_! Although, he would never like to admit that the call did put a smile on his face.

Liam isn’t happy though when his boss pulls him into the office after his shift. “Listen Li, I like you, you’re a great worker, but you have  _got_  to do something about your crazy roommate.”

All Liam can do is nod and agree wholeheartedly because really, Louis can get out of control sometimes, even if he means well. But that is just Louis and Liam doesn’t want him to change one bit, it would just throw the whole groups dynamics off completely.

Once Liam has Louis alone in the car though, after both boys had had a long day in there respectful jobs, and Louis picks him up, he lets him know what kind of trouble he got into.

“You got me in trouble at work today, thought my boss was going to fire me cause of you.” He mutters.

Louis seems pleased with this; Liam can hear it in his voice when he says “Serves you right, hanging up on your callers like that. I thought you had better manners Payne.”

Liam can’t help but here the smugness in his voice. All Liam can do is just shake his head. He’s used to Louis’ jokes, all the guys are.

They are to meet the guys at the park after work for their weekly dinner out. It’s pretty outside today and Niall is supposed to bringing food for them, or at least that is what Liam is informed of when they’ve park.

Louis and Liam just settle down at a picnic table when Harry and Niall show up with food, undoubtedly that they got from the restaurant. Immediately, Louis rambles out what Liam did to him at the radio show, like it was the worst possible thing in the world.

Niall shoves a sandwich Louis’ way. “Bitch needs to eat. We all know how cranky you get when you don’t eat.” All the boys laugh except maybe for Louis is cutting eyes at the Irishman.

Louis throws a piece of tomato at Niall and mutters “Bitch needs to…”

But for some reason he doesn’t finish and Liam is being jerked around. He feels something hit is forehead and frowns slightly.

“What the hell did I do?” he asks, rubbing his forehead to make sure whatever one of them threw didn’t leave any remnants of anything.

“Yeah Harry, don’t throw food at Li, that’s not nice.” Liam figures that Harry wasn’t really aiming for Liam when he hit him, which is why Louis must have moved him in the way of the offending piece of food. Liam doesn’t care though; he’s used to being Louis shield.

They need up having a food fight, most of the food that Niall brought for them to eat ends up on the ground around them, but they’re laughing and that’s all that matters to Liam.

+

Zayn’s in the bakery, buying those little iced cookies that he loves so much when he happens to look over to see a familiar brunette. His insides flutter as he realizes who it is, but bites back his insecurities and goes over to start up a conversation.

Walking over to the boy, he smiles –  _stupidstupid_  Zayn-  “Hey, Liam right?” he asks, trying to sound like he didn’t Google him or has been obsessing over him the past week or so.

Liam turns around at the call of his name and a smile plays across his lips. “Yes?” he says in a question.

“Oh, uh, Hi, it’s Zayn, I work with Harry at the art supply store, the one that brought him home the other day?” he hopes he’s not being a complete idiot because it was a onetime meeting and Liam could have long forgotten about him.

“Oh yeah, hey! How have you been?”

They make small talk, which Zayn isn’t really good at because he’s never really been a people person, and it’s awkward because they really haven’t much to say. He learns that Liam is here to by dessert for the guys and it shows just how caring Liam is, or at least that’s what Zayn thinks anyways.

“Oh that’s nice. Dessert is probably the best part of the day.” And Zayn is completely aware of how much a fool he’s making himself out to be. He sees Liam isn’t much better at this whole conversation thing, probably because Zayn is making this so painful.

“Err, well..” Zayn chuckles.

“What, do I have something on my face?” Liam questions, and it’s a serious question because his hand is touching his face now.

“Well, you kind have something in your hair.” He watches Liam’s hand move to his hair to feel where it is.

“Where is it?” he asks, feeling around everywhere but where the piece of food is stuck.

“Hold on, let me.” Zayn moves forward and he’s completely aware of how close he is to Liam. The other boy also seems to be aware because can feel him catch his breathe when Zayn leans in and pulls out the piece of lettuce caught in Liam’s hair. “There, done.” He lets it fall to the ground before pulling back slightly. “You look as handsome as ever.”

That’s when Liam blushes and Zayn feels like he’s going to die. “Well, it was good to see you again. Err, I’ll see you around.” And Zayn wants to hit himself to stop him from talking, and on top of that he runs in the display of the bread and almost knocks it on its side. The guy over the counter is throwing him a horrible look and Zayn just wants to get out of there before he makes a bigger fool out of himself in front of Liam than he already has.

He misses the almost admiring look Liam gives him when he leaves.

+

Louis wakes up around six in the morning, every morning, since the group of four boys moved here two years ago. He shuts his alarm off, and lays there with his eyes closed for a moment or two, taking in the peaceful silence before he starts his day, a moment or two for himself, if you will.

He makes his way into the kitchen where he turns on the coffee maker, because god knows none of the boys can function the rest of the day without their morning cup of caffeine, or two – in Louis’ case about four.

Sometimes, if he’s feeling extra playful, he’ll move the ottoman on his way to the kitchen, which gets Liam every time. If he notices they are low on something, he’ll add it to the growing grocery list that is tacked to the refrigerator. Like for example, this morning they’re out of eggs and really low on milk for Liam’s cereal.

After he scribbles those two things down, he’s turning on the news, listening to the weather report. Always something on, always something playing. The boys never go without some type of noise, they can’t stand the silence.

It’s supposed to be sunny today, slight chance of drizzle later on today, but he’s not too worried about that, just for the afternoon. He makes two cups of coffee as he hears Liam rustling in his bedroom. Soon, he hears the bedroom door open and he waits for it. The sound of Liam tripping cues him into play as he finishes his cup and saunters into the living room.

He pats Liam on the head as he pass the boy trying to move the ottoman out of the way and back where it goes. “I’ve got the shower.” While there are two showers in the house, the second is in Harry and Niall’s room, and Louis dares not to go in there for fear they might be doing something other than sleeping.

Liam gets his revenge though as he sneaks into the bathroom while Louis is too busy singing in the shower to notice and flushes the toilet on him, causing the older male to yelp and yell out his name. It’s a game between him and the rest of the boys, who can prank one another the most, the best. Louis has kept his reign as king prankster for a while now, so he’s waiting for the day they get him back.

After his quick shower and muttering curse words at his hair to stay the way he wants it, he goes back to the kitchen for his second cup of coffee. Harry and Niall are up by now and Harry is bustling about the kitchen, making Niall, Louis, and him something to eat, while Niall and Liam enjoy their cereal. Harry would make Liam something to eat, but he’s recently got into this healthy eating business that none of the boys are too keen on. All granola bars and low carbs and it’s disgusting.

Niall is complaining that he wants pancakes as Louis puts just the right amount of cream and sugar in his coffee and settles down on the other side of Liam. There is a ‘whap’ and Liam has smacked Niall upside the head. For a blind person, Liam sure has great aim.

“Fix it yourself.” Liam says between his bites of cereal, leaving Niall to rub the back of his head where he whacked him. Louis chuckles lightly.

This is a typical morning for the boys; they’ve fallen in this sort of rhythm of quick banter and small talk. Louis keeps an eye on the boys as he briefly checks the clock ever so often as not to be late. The news is still playing softly in the background as they talk schedules and times. “What’s your agenda for today, love?” he asks Liam, when he settles back down on the bar stool with his third cup of coffee.

Louis listens as Liam lists what’s he’s planning on doing. His ears perk up when he talks about going to work at the radio station for a few hours, but he knows that he’s not allowed to call there anymore to pester Liam. After he gets Liam’s schedule, the rest of the boys chime in on where they’ll be any given time. It’s natural for them to know where each other is, they’ve just made it a habit to know.

He’s out the door first, always is when he has to be at work at eight in the morning Monday through Friday. Being a kid’s counselor is hard, but it’s worth it if he helps at least one kid through their problems. He hugs Liam before he goes, says goodbye to the rest of the group and is out the door and in his blue mini cooper almost within a blink of an eye.

He’s got a new case; he’s met a few times. The boy’s name is Aiden, and while Louis has flipped through his file plenty of times, he’s still getting to know him, still trying to gain his trust. The first time he ever met the kid, he was fiddling with a locket, which after questioning, Louis found out it was his mothers. Louis also notices that the kid fiddles with it the most when he’s anxious.

The boy didn’t talk a lot, even when he was asked questions he only answered to the bare minimum. It was only after he brought him to go get ice cream did things turn around. It had been something the mother had done with the boy, something that he could identify with. Louis understood. This boy reminded him a lot of Liam; lost, broken, and confused. With Liam there are so many years of pent up anger and resentment, he wasn’t sure he could help him anymore, but Aiden was here and he needed help now. Guess Louis thought if he helps Aiden, he’d be helping Liam a bit too. Ridiculous, he realizes.

The file only states opinions of others; Louis wants to know what really is behind the kid. He’s talk to the father, Ryan, and he seems like he’s got a good home life. The reason why he’s been put in counseling is because his mother died and he’s going through a rough time. Ryan was the one that sought out help for him.

Today he’s scheduled to take Aiden out and he figures that because he’s found out the last time that Aiden really likes baseball, he’d take him there. Louis doesn’t hate baseball like Liam hates art. In fact, he rather enjoys it, but that is also because he’s found something else he’s passionate about and that’s helping kids in need.

Louis makes it to work with ten minutes to spare and sighs as he goes straight to the employee lounge and makes his fourth and final cup of coffee. He glances at his watch, and smiles. Ryan is going to drop Aiden off about ten, which is in about two hours from now. And Louis has a surprise for Aiden.

He’s taking Aiden to a baseball game today, which he’s really excited about. And with any luck, he’ll be able to register Aiden, with the permission of his father, into the local pee wee baseball league.

Walking to his office, he’s got enough time to finish up some of the reports he’s been bad about leaving for the last minute on his desk. His boss will be proud of him. He tinkers around with his email before starting though and by the time ten rolls around, Louis has procrastinated his way once again through another report.

He meets Aiden and Ryan up at the front. Ryan has dark hair and dark skin and emerald green eyes – almost reminding Louis of Harry’s. He’s twenty-eight, just a year older than Louis and originally from Spain. He came to America through his business as a translator. Aiden was born in the United States, his mother was American. From what the file said, though Louis heard it with his own ears in the parent interview, Ryan had a baby with his best friend, both who just really wanted to have a child.

Louis remembered it being rather sweet to know that someone such as Ryan did something so giving as to give someone a baby. He had wanted to ask the reason why they hadn’t got married, but he felt it was tasteless. He later found out that Ryan is gay. Aiden’s mother had a girlfriend the time she died. Louis stopped asking those sorts of questions after that.

Aiden, who is just eight years old, and from what Louis could tell, looks a whole lot like his mother, just darker complexion and with Ryan’s eyes. The whole family is beautiful and it sometimes physically hurts Louis’ eyes to stare at them for too long.

He waited patiently as Aiden climbed out of his father’s car, smiling as Aiden and Ryan make their way over. “Hey love! Got a surprise for you today!” he smiled, hand squeezing Aiden’s shoulder lightly as he stands near him. Him and Ryan exchange small smirks.

“Here’s the number to my work if you need it.” Ryan slips Louis a piece of paper in his hand. “I’m sure you already have my cell phone number.”

Louis chuckles. “Aiden is going to be fine; we’re going to have so much fun. We’ll ring you at lunch though to let you know how things are going.” Ryan nods and after he and Aiden say their goodbyes, he’s off in his car to work.

The day after that goes by fast. Aiden enjoys the time at the baseball game. Aiden mentions something about wanting to play and Louis smiles over at him. “I used to play when I was younger, even had a shot at the big leagues.”

Aiden’s eyes grow as big as saucers practically and Louis chuckles. “Tell you what; I’ll register you for your ages’ league so you can play with kids your own age. I’ll take you to and from the games and practices and have sessions in between. Sound like a plan?”

The eight year old is nodding vigorously. “Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on [tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks for this fic can be found [here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	5. Karma's a bitch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.

The mirror is fogged up from the shower Niall just had to start his day. The one he always has before he goes into Harry and his room to finish getting dressed. Fingers slide through blond hair as blue eyes look at him in the mirror. It’s just another day for Niall Horan, another day of guilt and self-hate. At the thought, his eyes wander up to the scar on his forehead. Harry and the rest of the boys swear it’s hardly noticeable, but Niall thinks differently.

It sticks out like a sore thumb to him. It big and ugly and reminds him of how much a shit friend he actually is. It reminds him every day that it’s his fault, that he had been the one in control and he had lost everything dear to Liam and Louis all in one night.

Before Niall can get too much into his guilt ridden pep talk, arms wrap around him from behind and Harry’s there, Niall can tell just by the way he tilts a little to his right, a habit he’s had since he was younger. Harry hooks his chin on Niall’s shoulder and smiles at Niall in the mirror. “You’re so beautiful.” He gives him a heart-warming smile and that’s it, Niall is back to his happy place.

He smiles back and turns his head to kiss Harry on the forehead, the brunette closing his eyes briefly at the touch. “Nah, you’re beautiful-er.” The word has Harry crunching up his nose.

“Hey, that’s not even a word.” Niall chuckles, turning around in Harry’s arms and kissing him properly.

Later on, Niall walks Harry to work. It’s a common occurrence now after the incident happened with him in the car. Niall doesn’t drive anymore and because Harry doesn’t want to get into any vehicle, he’s just never bothered again. Whatever Harry leave behind, Niall does too.

They’ve been a pair for a little less than ten years. They had been sneaking around together a lot longer than that though, before they knew what it was and they weren’t sure how to tell anybody. Even before the accident, Niall was in love with him, and now he knew not everyone was so lucky in that department.

They walk together, side by side, arms crossed in the back, as Niall’s hand is inside Harry’s right pocket of his pants and Harry’s hand is in Niall’s left pocket his jeans. They walk like this a lot, needing that contact from each other, that reassurance that everything is going to be okay while they are together.

It’s helped Niall ten years now, and when he feels himself getting panic attacks, when the thoughts become too much for him to handle, Harry’s there, pressing his fingers into his skin, planting soft kissing on his temple. It’s a win-win situation for the both of them.

Niall laughs at something Harry is saying, but he’s still alert for any trouble. His eyes dart around as if he’s expecting an attack at any minute, his hands clutch a bit at Harry. They make it to the store without any incident, though Harry’s poking at Niall’s side, trying to rid him of his sort of frown.

He laughs, grabbing his wrist before pulling Harry into a kiss. “You don’t play fair.” He whispers when he pulls back.

“Neither do you, love,” Harry chuckles, and then notices that they aren’t alone, “Hey Zayn.” Niall thinks it’s adorable how the blush creeps from Harry’s cheeks down to his collarbone. He takes his eyes off Harry to gaze at Zayn. He’s smoking and the smell knocks him for a loop a little. He squeezes Harry’s hand a little then offers his hand to Zayn.

“Hey Zayn, I’m Niall. Thank you for helping Harry.” He tightens Zayn’s hand when the older boy takes it. It’s a serious moment because he doesn’t really know what would have happened if Zayn hadn’t have been there.

“No problem.” Zayn is looking at Harry and smiles. “He’s sort of grown on me.” And with that he leans over and ruffles Harry’s curls. Something growls inside of Niall, but he hold it at bay as he turns to Harry when the boy clears his throat.

They chat a bit before Niall has to leave to head to work. He’s head chief at the restaurant, and he can’t be late. He says his goodbyes to Zayn and takes a bit more time and affection to say his goodbyes to Harry before walking off.

Niall’s not having the best of days at work. He’s in the middle of an argument with a bus boy about laying the dirty dishes anywhere he wants to, including on the nice clean surface that Niall serves food on.

The last thing he hears from the busy boy is the use of the word ‘fag’ and throws hot soup on him before Niall throws him out of the kitchen. So he has to work with soaking clothes that smell like potato soup and is burning his skin. The soup finally cool, making it more uncomfortable to work in because no matter how much he wipes his skin clean, it’s sticky and smells.

Everyone, even the owner, tends to stay out of the kitchen unless they absolutely have to after that, as Niall is cooking angrily, throwing used pots and pans in the dishwasher and barking out orders to the wait staff. He even made the new waiter so agitated, causing him to drop a whole tray of food, which upset Niall more because he had to cook the orders over again.

Niall’s shift is over, to everyone’s delight, and he’s walking back to the supply store to walk Harry home. He just really wants to go home and take a shower, maybe curl up with Harry in their bed and watch bad tv while he falls asleep in the warmth.

When he gets there, Harry knows. He knows by the way his shoulders are hunched and the look on his face that Niall’s not in the mood. Before he can say anything though, Zayn catches a glimpse of him and is making some smart remark of him smelling like rotten potatoes. Harry tries to stop him, but it’s too late and Niall jerks him out of the store with no goodbye to Zayn, just mumbles under his breathe.

Niall opens the door to the house, both the boys walk into the living room. “Louis” he breathes inwardly. Yes, Louis is playing one of his tricks on Liam because all the furniture is rearranged. There isn’t a sign of Liam anywhere; he’s probably hiding in his room after figuring out Louis plan. Liam maybe blind, but he can still hear Louis moving the furniture.

Harry stays a good distance a ways, wondering if he could get away with camping in the backyard tonight, because he knows Louis probably isn’t done with this whole trick thing. And he’s right, because out of nowhere, Louis is there. Niall turns his face, and as he does he gets a face full of glitter. A giggling Louis yells “Leprechaun dust!” as he runs away, probably to his room where he slams the door closed.

“It’s fairy dust. you twat!” Harry calls out, trying his best not to laugh as Niall turns to him, face completely covers in silver glitter. Niall doesn’t have to say a word; Harry knows he’s contemplating murder.

“Go take a shower love, I’ll fix the furniture and make us something to eat. You’ll feel better and make sure it’s hot water, it will help you relax.” Harry pats Niall on the butt before he complies and walks into his and Harry’s room, shutting the door and stripping off to go get in a hot shower.

While Niall is in the shower, Harry manages to put the furniture back to where it was, get ice for Liam’s shin, and start dinner for them all. He doesn’t look up when Niall enters the room until he hears a “I’m going to kill Louis.” Harry looks up horrified.

Niall’s blond hair is now a bright green. Louis must have put food coloring in Niall’s shampoo. Harry shakes his head, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous Niall looks with green hair. “This better wash out Tommo!” he calls.

“Sit down and eat, I’ll help you wash it out after dinner.” Harry leaves and comes back with Liam. Liam squeezes Niall’s shoulder as he passes, Harry must have told him what happened.

“Apparently Louis is in a particularly mischievous mood tonight.” Liam says as he sits down and Niall can’t help but to agree on that.

Harry has made a nice pasta and spaghetti sauce, which the boys dig into, even Louis who deems is safe to come out and eat. He snickers though every few minutes as his blue eyes meet the green hair he’s responsible for.

Regardless of Louis sudden outbursts of giggles, which to Liam’s credit he does kick him hard in the leg every time he does, effectively shutting him up for the time being, Niall relaxes considerably and back to his normal self, where he shoots witty banter back and forth with Louis.

After dinner, Harry spends two hours trying to get the green food coloring out of Niall’s hair and even then it still has a faint coloring of it. He feels sorry for Niall, but he plans to make him forget about his obvious tough day.

Later, when they are alone in their bedroom for the night, Harry makes sure to take Niall apart with his hands and mouth, making Niall forget Louis’ pranks and his bad day at work. He makes sure his touches as soft and slow, he’s not in a rush and he doesn’t want Niall to feel rushed either. When Niall finally does release, Harry makes sure to swallow it all, licking his lips at the salty taste.

Niall falls asleep, snoring softly, in Harry’s arms.

+

Harry is tired. Even though they got most of the food coloring out of Niall’s hair the night before, they didn’t get in bed until well after two, and even then they didn’t get to sleep a little past five. He had to be up this morning bright and early because he had to open at the art supply store with Zayn.

So when he comes in for his shift, dragging ass and looking completely knackered, Zayn merely rasies an eyebrow. “Do I want to know what you did last night?” he asked, not even looking up from the stretch he was doing. He quickly closes it when Harry stumbles over to the desk, burying his head in his arms as he tries to doze off.

Harry mumbles something so he clears his throat. “What was that, I don’t speak in grunts.”

He lifts his head, sleepy green eyes meet brown and he huffs. “I didn’t get much sleep last night because I had to wash Niall’s hair several times because Louis decided to put food coloring in his shampoo. Needless to say, Niall wasn’t amused, so I had to take the time to make him feel better.”

Zayn scrunches his noise. “Thanks for that, really.” There is a skip of silence before he speaks again. “If you want help pranking Louis back, I would like to help. I’m sure Niall has a plan of revenge in the near future, am I right?”

Harry’s eyes narrow a bit, then laughs. “Yes he does. He stayed up all night going over different ideas with me, though none of them were too brilliant.”

There is another pause and Zayn brightens. “I think I have an idea.”

After Zayn clues Harry in on this brilliant plan of his, he calls Niall, who’s still at home to see if it’s alright if Zayn helps them with payback. After getting the go ahead, he hangs up and smiles. “It’s settled, you’re coming home with me tonight for dinner and we can talk about the details there, Louis is going to out with one of his cases to a baseball game so he won’t be back until later.”

Zayn nods and goes back to his sketches, smirking a bit. He doesn’t notice that Harry is watching him briefly before sticking his face back in the dark hole he’s created with his arms. A smirk plays off of his lips as well as if he knows something that Zayn himself doesn’t know.

Harry and Zayn close up the shop about six. Zayn walks him home instead of Niall since he’s been invited to dinner. They make it there and Harry notices how fidgety Zayn is being. He can’t seem to keep his hands from shaking, when means that he’s nervous about something and he thinks he knows exactly what, or in this case, who is the reason behind it.

“Come on, Niall should already have dinner ready and Liam’s probably made some tea.” He coaxes Zayn into the house, heading straight to Niall and giving him his usual hello kiss.

Zayn’s eyes fall on Liam who is already sitting at the table. He greets Harry and Zayn, to his surprise with a warm smile and a ‘hello’. Zayn takes a seat at the table beside Liam, and Harry gives Niall a knowing look. The blond just rolls his eyes and puts butter on the garlic bread he’s about to put in the already heated oven.

While Niall and Harry are busy putting the finishing touches on the dinner, Zayn takes this moment to get to know a little bit more of Liam, at least he tries. He’s not the most social person in the world, he’s very much a loner, but he tries his best.

“Err, so how have you been?” Zayn tries. He throws a hard glare at Harry who just let out a giggle, and turns back to Liam who’s smiling kindly.

“I’ve been good,” he chuckles, Zayn’s unsure if it’s because of him or Harry. “You?”

Zayn knows it’s awkward, he can feel it surrounding them, but he doesn’t know what to do about it. “I’m good.” He repeats Liam’s words back to him and he’s mentally kicking himself for giving him such a dumb answer. “I’m surprised you as fit as you are, with these two cooking all the time.”

Oh God.

Liam blushes but other than that, he doesn’t let on that Zayn has said anything remotely embarrassing. “They are good cooks, but what they lack in nutrition I have in self-control.”

“Yeah…” he trials off, not really sure what to say next, thank god Harry swoops in to save him.

“Here we are. Best shrimp alfredo on the east coast.” Harry says in a sing-song voice before putting the dish on the table. “Says the Washington post and New York food critics.”

Niall is right behind him, rolling his eyes, but beaming at his boyfriends brag. “Stop it.” He warns, sliding the plate of garlic bread beside it.

“What? You’re my boyfriend, I get bragging rights.” Niall just shakes his head again and motions for him to sit down.

They eat and talk, mostly about cooking and the restaurant, but they talk a little bit about the art store and Zayn’s art, as well as Liam’s radio show job and how he’s taking a liking to the whole hotline for troubled teens.

Once they’ve finished all they’re going to eat, Harry drags Niall into the kitchen to wash what dishes they can, leaving Zayn and Liam alone once again.

Zayn’s prepared this time, or at least he thinks he is. “So what kind of pranks does Louis pull on you guys anyways?”

Liam took the time to tell Zayn about him moving the furniture, glitter, hair dying, the Nair in the shampoo, shaving one eyebrow, and more. “And that’s just the tip of the iceberg with him. We’ve known him for ten years, there are three of us to prank and we live together, so you can imagine what kind of crap we’ve had to go through.”

Zayn isn’t trying to laugh, because he doesn’t think it’s polite, but he’s got to hand it to this Louis, he’s pretty resourceful and a genius. Chuckling, Liam smiles at Zayn, “Go ahead, you can laugh, some of them were pretty funny.”

When Harry and Niall come back after a while, Niall looking a bit frustrated, they talk business. “So what ideas do you have for a prank?” Niall asks as Harry snuggles to his side.

Watching them, Zayn smiles, and looks at Liam when he speaks. “I think we should do something Louis won’t expect, maybe something to do with his car.”

Harry looks at him like he has ten heads. “Hey that would be brilliant if we knew anything about cars. Good try Liam.”

Liam looks defeated and Zayn wants to do anything so that he never has to witness that facial expression ever again. “I know my way around a car.” He pipes up, smiling when he sees Liam brighten back up.

Harry looks over at him. “Okay, good, that’s good. So what should we do then Mr. Mechanic?”

Niall chuckles, “We should just let the airs out of his tires.”

“No, something bigger.” Harry equips back.

“What if we mess with his electrical system?” Zayn suggests, looking at the other guys for approval. They get loud then, shouting out suggestions on what Zayn should tinker with, excited with the prospect of getting one over on Louis.

Once the boys figure out exactly what they are going to do to Louis car, the device a plan on how to get Louis away from the house long enough for Zayn to carry out the plan. It’s about nine when they finish up. Harry’s asleep against Niall’s shoulder and Niall is resting his head against Harry’s.

Zayn mentions that he should get going and Liam goes to walk him to the door. Without asking, his arm intertwines with Zayn as they both walk to the door. Zayn is sort of glad Liam can’t see his face because it’s bright red, but he enjoys the feeling of Liam so close to him.

“I had a good time today. It feels like you’re like one of the boys, like you’ve been with us for the past ten years as well.” Liam pauses as he doesn’t hear anything from Zayn but a deep inhale of breath. “That’s a good thing.” He assures.

“Yeah, glad to know my pranking skills are being put to good use.” He chuckles, stopping at the doorway to pull the front door to. “So I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asks timidly.

“Yup,” Liam says in a way that reminds Zayn of a little puppy dog.

“Night then.” Zayn almost whispers, but Liam manages to catch it, calling his own goodbye as Zayn takes the steps to leave.

It takes Zayn a moment to let this all sink in. He’s going to spend the whole day with Liam practically. His stomach clenched almost on command. This meant one thing: he needs to do laundry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on [tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks for this fic can be found [here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	6. Green Tomatoes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.

Zayn knocks on the door of the house he’s grown accustomed to ever sense Harry’s started working that the art supply store, toolbox in hand. Liam answers with a bright smile and Zayn can’t help up to match it. He tries his best to calm the queasy feeling in his stomach due to nerves as Liam lets him into the house, shutting the door behind him.

“So, Louis gone?” Liam nods, making his way to the living room as Zayn follows.

“He was sort of suspicious at first, but he sort of got cocky at the end, telling us we couldn’t beat the master, whatever that is.” Liam gives out this little chuckle that Zayn thinks is adorable and he should shoot himself right then and there because he knows he’s going to make a fool out of himself again today.

“Oh? How did Harry and Niall get him out of the house without the car?”

Liam walks out of the room, motioning for Zayn to follow him. He only answers when he gets to a door, probably the door to the garage in which Louis’ car was housed. “They told him they wanted him to do a taste test on new dishes at the restaurant. Seeing as Harry doesn’t go near cars, he was forced to walk with them.”

“Genius that Harry is.” Zayn says as Liam opens the door and lets him into the tiny garage. It isn’t full like most of the other ones he’s seen, mostly on the telly.

“Yes that he is.” After a beat, “Well, I’m rubbish at cars, but I’ll help with anything you need.” Liam unlocks the door and pops the hood for Zayn.

“Thanks.” Zayn sits his toolbox down close to where he will be working and he smiles when he sees Liam get settled in a lawn chair that the boy must have put out here a long time ago. It was nice to see that Liam wasn’t running away from Zayn’s ill attempts at getting to know him.

“They said to text them whenever it was done. Code word: green tomatoes.” He chuckles. “Don’t ask me, Harry came up with the name.”

Zayn shakes his head and laughs, beginning his work. He’s very aware of Liam’s company; with ever movement he feels Liam’s warm presence.  They make small talk while he works, Liam’s careful not to call Zayn’s attention to much from his work, as they want to do this quickly as if Louis would step through those door any minute and ruin any chances of this prank going through.

He learns about Liam’s jobs, a little bit more about the relations between the four boys and when Zayn’s stomach does the slightest grumble, he also learns Liam has excellent hearing. “Come on, break time. I’ll fix you something to eat. Fancy a sandwich?”

Zayn doesn’t answer because Liam is already getting up and heading through to the house. He also learns that Liam is a rather good sandwich maker and he learns that he’s in love with his laugh. The moment Liam laughs at one of his corny jokes, Zayn knows he’s a goner. It was part of his mission, to see him smile all the time. He hoped everyone had the chance to hear something as beautiful as Liam’s laugh.

After both of them finish their lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches and a cup of tea, Zayn’s back to work and Liam continues to lounge in the chair he found previously. It doesn’t take Zayn long after that to finish and he chuckles when he reads over Liam’s shoulder his text to Harry with the code words.

They’re in the living room, laughing at some big story Liam told about Harry and Louis when the rest of the boys get there. Harry has this smirk on his face that Zayn can’t place, but it doesn’t take him too long to figure out exactly what that means.

Zayn leaves shortly after that, introducing himself to Louis and making an excuse that he has to check something at the shop. He tries to ignore Louis’ judging eyes as Liam’ hugs him and the fact that Niall won’t even look at him. It’s just all in his mind he tries telling himself.

After Zayn leave, Harry turns to Liam with a wide grin. “Okay, what’s going on with you two?”

Liam dips his head down. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But it doesn’t hide the redness of his face and ears that Harry can see clear as day.

Harry chuckles, “You’re blushing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, why’d you react that way?”

The boy in front of him looks up at him, all traces of the playful smile gone. Almost in a whisper so none of the others can hear, not that they could seeing as it was just Harry and Liam now in the living room, Liam speaks. “What does he look like?”

Right then and there Harry knows that this is serious. Liam really likes him.

“I-I mean not that would matter, it’s just… he’s out of my league isn’t he?” Looks never much mattered to Liam before, but having Zayn around makes him wonder if he’s just too abnormal to be with someone like Zayn.

Harry shakes his head and pulls Liam close. “He’s prefect for you Li, you’ll see.” He smiles, kissing Liam’s forehead and pulls away. “I’m smashed, I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.” He leaves Liam alone in the living room as he sort of skips to Niall and his bedroom, closing the door.

“I hate to say this, but I told you so.” Niall raises an eyebrow at him from where he’s lying on the bed watching something on the telly. Harry scoffs, “Liam. He’s in love with Zayn. They’re going to make pretty babies.”

Niall rolls his eyes and puts all his attention back in the program he’s watching.

“You should help me with them. You know, getting them to go out on their first date.” Niall acts like he doesn’t hear him until Harry’s straddling him and  _making_  him look into his eyes.

“I’m busy.” He can see the disappointment in Harry’s eyes then, but he’s already made up his mind. He’s getting another job so he can finally get on with his life with Harry. They need it anyways to afford the restaurant.

Harry doesn’t push it though, his arms just loosen their grip from Niall’s shoulders and he rolls over to his side of the bed, not bothering to undress. Niall knows that he’s messed up, but he really doesn’t want to help Harry with something he really cares nothing about.

He sighs, turning off the telly and rolls over, enveloping Harry with his arms. “I’m sorry, we just need the extra money.” And he hears Harry sniffles but feels him nod and Niall kisses his ear. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” He hears back and smiles, kissing his ear again before they both fall asleep. 

 

+

Louis walks into the kitchen to start the morning ritual. Coffee, everyone has their morning coffee. It’s not until he’s half way through moving the ottoman that he realizes that the house is empty. He even checks each of the boys rooms to be sure. No Liam, no Harry, no Niall. “Hello?”

He’s completely and utterly alone and it’s just plain weird. Something’s up, he can feel it. It’s whatever though, because he knows they’re probably seeking revenge after the pranks he pulled the other day but he’s too good to fall for traps.

So he uses Liam’s shampoo and conditioner instead of his own because let’s face it, out of all the boy that would mess with Liam’s toiletries it would be him and he knows he hasn’t messed with them since the orange hair incident.

When Louis is out of the shower, he resolves that he must get something on the way to work because he does not trust any of the food in the house after he had laced the boy’s favorite foods with laxatives. He finally makes it out to his car and smirks.

He narrows his eyes walking around his car and sees nothing out of the ordinary. He stands there a moment before checking the underneath side of the car just to be sure. They seem to not have done anything to his car so he smiles in triumph before getting in the car.

Louis briefly ponders why he had been alone this morning but decides it’s just a coincidence and turns the ignition of his car.

_Hi Barbie!_

“What the hell?”

_Hi Ken!_

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me?!?”

 _Do you wanna go for a ride_  
Sure Ken!  
Jump in…

Louis tries to turn down the volume but the button doesn’t seem to be working and it’s unbearably loud when the chorus starts up.

_I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world.  
Life in plastic, it’s fantastic._

He tries rolling down his window but it’s stuck. Damn automatic windows! Damn this electrical system! Damn those boys! He has a twenty minute ride to work, and if he can’t get his car fixed before he has to leave work, it’s another hour back home with five o’clock traffic. He bangs his head against the steering wheel.

This little prank has made him fiddle around for too long, so getting breakfast on the go is out of the question. Going into work frustrated and hungry is not a good combination for Louis, but he manages. The worse however is when Ryan shows up with Aiden for a brief meeting.

At the end of the meeting, which Louis went rather well seeing as he was starving and irritated, Aiden says the two words Louis has been shouting for the past four hours. “I’m hungry.” And as if on cue, Louis stomach growls, angrily.

Ryan chuckles, “Guess you are too. Wanna come to lunch with us?”

“Sure,” Louis smiles, but then thinks, “Mm, can we take your car?”

On the way to Ryan’s car, Louis explains the prank that the boys pulled with Louis’ car. Aiden thought it was pretty brilliant and laughed; Ryan was a little bit more sympathetic.

Louis had a little scare when Ryan suggests the restaurant Niall and Harry work at, but he diverts it by suggesting the a nice bistro down the corner.  _Just don’t say anything stupid._

 

+

The boys time it all. They arrive back at the house a good fifteen minutes after Louis has left and they can’t help but to laugh and guess what Louis is cursing at the moment. Zayn suggests that Louis will most likely be singing along while he leans against Liam. Harry is watching them and before Niall knows anything, Harry’s pulling him away, “Come on, there is something I wanna show you.”

“Huh?” is all Niall can come back with before he’s whisked away, most likely to their bedroom Zayn thinks.

It takes Zayn a few awkward moments before he breaks the silence. “So do you see the crap call the ref made in the game on Sunday?” After the words come out of his mouth, he’s kicking himself. “Sorry.” He sounds helpless.

Liam laughs, he can’t help it. “You’re fine. Relax.” There are a few moments of silence once more before. “I’ve had worse. Once, Louis thought it cute to put me in hot pink skinny jeans and a glittery top. Thankful the boys got me in time before I did any real damage to my reputation.”

Zayn relaxes after that, learning that all he needs is Liam to stop thinking so much. “Louis has also been known to lead me to the girl’s bathroom in public restaurants, caused a bit of hysteria there. He’s painted my cane into a giant candy cane for Christmas one year and insisted that Niall was my Christmas leprechaun. It’s about time someone like you came around to give him a run for his money.” Liam smiles brightly at Zayn. Zayn thinks he’s forgotten how to breathe.

“Aww.” Harry breathes against the door as he’s got his ear glued to the door to listen. He’s happy that Liam and Zayn are finally coming out of their shells and spending some time alone together. He hears something about Louis before he’s being pulled by the collar of his shirt. “Oi!”

He looks back to see Niall rolling his eyes at him. “Come on, let’s give them some privacy.” Niall opens their bedroom door and tugs Harry pass Zayn and Liam who have found comfy sitting on the sofa. “We’ll be back you lot, have fun!” is all he has time to say as he’s pushing Harry out the door.

Zayn blinks and looks back at Liam who is chuckling, probably some secret joke between them that he doesn’t fancy telling just yet. Eventually, Liam puts on a movie, Toy Story, which Zayn has learned is Liam’s favorite, and they have a popcorn bowl between them.

He tries not to think its adorable when Liam is singing along to all the songs, and even catches himself singing underneath his breath- he’s got little sisters. They laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

Niall and Harry come back when the credits are rolling. Zayn doesn’t remember him and Liam sitting so close until he glances as Niall and follows his eyesight to the two of them. Sure enough, their bodies are pressed against one another with Liam sort of leaning into him. His arm is draped across the back of the couch, but mostly on his shoulders.

They wait for Louis to get home. When they hear the car pull into the garage, they all look at each other before Liam turns the telly off. They all are laughing uproariously when they see a frazzled Louis in the driver’s seat of his car, banging his head on the steering wheel, the car off.

The boys fall back into the house as Louis stamps out of the car and all but slam the door full force. He opens the door and the first one he comes across is Harry. Harry with a sweet, innocent – almost too perfect- smile on his face. “What’s wrong?”

Louis glares at him. “I think you know exactly what’s wrong.” He takes a breath before continuing. “My car has apparently been possessed by an EVIL BARBIE!” He yells the last two words throwing his arms in the air, causing Harry to flinch a little.

He then notices Niall, red-faced and doubling over with laughter. Liam and Zayn is standing beside him, Harry backs up safely tucked between a maniacal laughing Niall, and a giggling Liam. Zayn seemed to be the only one trying to hold it in.

Harry holds on to Liam for support as he begins to laugh. There isn’t any way any of them could have messed with his car like that, none of them even knew their way around one and Harry wouldn’t even touch it if he did. Which means all this was  _Zayn_ , Louis looks at each of the boys before his eyes land on Zayn.

“You! You did this! It had to be you! None of these weasels know the difference between a dipstick and a spark plug, now fix it.” Zayn smiles at Louis and chuckles, shaking his head and grabbing the toolbox at his feet.

“Don’t damage me if you want your car fixed.” He grins.

“I wouldn’t be ready to maim if I hadn’t just spent _hours_ trapped in what amounts to be a six year old girls tea party from HELL!”

Liam pulls an arm around Louis and smiles, giving him a noogie. “Aw come on, you know you’re impressed.”

Louis relaxes, “Yeah,” he huffs, “I kinda am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on [tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks for this fic can be found [here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	7. You, me, and potato soup.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.

“Shuuuusssshhhh!” Niall giggles as the head board knocks against the wall. The bedside lamp is knocked off into the floor, several things that were on top of the nightstand now lay scattered on the floor, including a picture frame of the boys.

Harry groans as Niall licks the tip of his cock, his eyes close automatically as his hips surge forward for more contact, but Niall’s one step ahead of him, pinning his hips down to prevent him from doing so. Harry whines at the lack of movement, but remedies that with a sharp tug of Niall’s hair.

Niall is trying his best to keep Harry quiet as possible, the clock blares in red numbers that it’s about half past four in the morning and the others are sleeping. It’s hard work when Harry lets out noises with a single touch.

Another whine from the boy beneath him and Niall knows he’s growing impatient. He takes it slow at first, licking and sucking on the skin around Harry’s inner thigh, leaving what he really wants the attention on neglected for now. Niall takes his time, kissing skin that rarely gets attention, causing Harry to whine out louder than normal, causing Niall to smirk against his skin.

“Fuck you.” Harry growls, supposedly as an angry outburst towards Niall not giving his hardened cock any attention.

“No no Haz, I’m going to be fucking you.” He gives Harry a shit eating grin and moves up, sucking lightly on the tip of his longing dick. Harry wriggles underneath him, welcoming the sudden contact and craving more.

Niall hand is holding the base as he slides it deeper in his mouth, welcoming the little whimpers and moans coming from Harry. He moves his free hand to push Harry’s legs up and open, the boy compliant to Niall’s wishes.

Fingers slide gracefully across Harry’s sensitive skin, causing the boy beneath him to gasp. Niall smirks, sliding a just the tip of his finger in as he pushes Harry’s dick further into his mouth. Harry almost growls at the feeling, Niall continues, sliding his finger deeper inside him, prepping him for what’s to come.

Harry welcomes it, lifting his hips up to allow Niall more access to both his entrance and his cock. Niall has two digits in now, working and scissoring him until Harry hisses at him to get on with it.

Niall smirks around the cock in his mouth, pulling Harry out with a ‘pop’ and leaning up to press his lips forcefully to his, his fingers still inside him. “Patience, Patience.” He growls, slipping his fingers out and flipping Harry over in one swift move.

He lines himself up, spreading Harry’s cheeks, and sliding in slowly. Once he’s all the way in, he leans down, planting scattered kisses along Harry’s upper back, before pinning his shoulders down and sliding out completely, causing Harry to whimper. “Easy.” He coos, feeling the loss as well, it doesn’t take him long to burry himself back inside.

That starts the pace, as Niall slams into Harry from behind; Harry’s hand reaches the headboard, clutching it. “Fuck, Niall, fuck me…please.” He breathes, Niall’s hips stutter before picking up his pace, growling into Harry’s ear.

“You’re such a slut, begging. I’m going to fuck you so hard…gonna feel me for weeks. While we’re in the restaurant and you brush your bum up against me like the little tease you are, you’ll feel me inside you.”

Harry groans loudly, sliding his hands underneath him to lift himself up, Niall helping, wrapping an arm around his waist as he props himself against the headboard, Niall pounding in from behind. The headboard is hitting the wall with more force as Niall’s breathe against his neck falters

Before the pair can get to their climax, both hear a bang against the wall and Liam’s voice, “Oi! I’m trying to sleep you lunes!” Both boys giggle, and Niall kisses the nape of Harry’s neck affectionately. Harry moans a little more loudly than usual for just a simple kiss and Niall catches on.

He starts moving again, burring himself deeper inside Harry. “Fuck Harry, I’m so close, going to fill you with my cum.” He groans loudly at his own words. Harry’s eyes are closed, his head tilted back so Niall can see his face, and if Niall knows him, he knows he’s close. They way his eyes scrunch up and his grasp on the headboard tighten. “Come on baby, cum for me.” He reaches around and strokes Harry, feeling Harry’s hardened cock pulse in his hand.

It doesn’t take long for Harry to paint the headboard and Niall’s hand with white, and he’s grunting intangible words as Niall feels himself close to release. Harry clinches around him and that’s it, he gone. He sees white as he closes his eyes, emptying himself inside Harry. Harry pushes back against Niall, aimed to milk him for all he’s worth.

“Fuck,” Niall moans, collapsing to the side, pulling out and his head landing on a pillow. Harry smirks, flipping around and plopping down beside him, kissing Niall’s nose before snuggling against Niall, them both fully exhausted and fall right back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Liam is blind not deaf and he’s not happy with waking up at four thirty. After banging on the wall, he grumbles, making his way to his to his safe haven. He opens the door “Lou?”

Louis peaks out of the covers at him. He smiles and lifts the blanket up, “Come on Li.” Liam trudges to the bed, getting in and snuggling against the warm body. “They at it again?” Liam just nods; his eyes are already closed, it doesn’t take him long to fall asleep with Louis’ arms.

Liam wakes up when Louis hits him in the face. He groans, pushing Louis away. At the force, Louis wakes up, and fumbles to the floor. Liam shoots up. “Are you okay?” Louis grumbles from his place on the floor before he sits up and looks at the clock. They’ve woken up late, Niall and Harry have probably already went to work.

Louis grumbles and heads off to the bathroom to brush his teeth. After breakfast, the boys watch their normal tv shows, the ones that the rest of the boys deem ‘bad tv.’ In the middle of an episode of One Tree Hill (before the seasons got really bad), Liam breaks the silence by talking about his jobs, the one at the radio station and the one that Louis got him awhile back, the teen hotline. The latter was because he could work at home and the boys didn’t have to worry about him so much on his own, but they wouldn’t admit that to anyone else. It was good that Liam had found something to do with his time; he was driving Louis insane with the moping about.

Before Louis knew it though, Liam had grown quiet. Louis looks over to see the boy almost looking sheepish. “Spit it out Liam.” Liam bites his lip as if he’s regretting ever speaking the next words that are coming out of his mouth.

“I sort of, kind of, might have feelings for Zayn.” Louis smiles at this information. It wasn’t like any of the other guys didn’t know this, in fact it was pretty obvious when the two got around one another that they were into one another.

“I think you should go for it.” Liam looks skeptical. “No, really, I think you should, he’s a nice guy, apart from the pranking, which by the way I’m getting him back for that.” Liam blushes and burries his face in the pillow. Louis pats his back and continues to watch the show. Eventually, Liam pokes his head out and rests it on Louis shoulder.

There is a commercial on when Louis’ phone rings. It’s Aiden and he’s not feeling well. “Come pick me up from school.” He breathes over the phone, he sounds upset. Louis tells him he’ll be there shortly. Aiden has been in a program that helps with children who’s lost a parent; the state felt it a good idea. The boy is phoning Louis from a payphone (smart kid) and couldn’t get ahold of Ryan.

Louis turns to Liam. “You have to go don’t you?” Liam smiles, ‘Well go, we’ll continue this drama-thon later.” Louis laughs and tries to make a promise, but Liam isn’t having any of that. He just pushes him away and tells him to go. Louis shakes his head and pulls out his phone when he knows he’s far enough away from Liam.

He bounces out twenty minutes later, dressed and prepped to the t. Louis goes to the living room, where Liam is still at and smiles. “You might want to fluff that hair of yours and get dressed.”

Liam gives a confused expression. “What? Why?”

Louis grabs his keys and is heading out the door when he calls out “Zayn will be here any moment.” He snickers all the way to the car. He tries not to speed on his way to pick up Aiden, but he can’t help it if he does.

When he gets there, however, it’s not like he was imagining. Once he’s got Aiden in the car, that’s when he gets the full scoop. It wasn’t that he was sick; it was because some of the kids were picking on him. The program leaders lets the kids run around without any supervision. Louis makes a mental note to give the people in the program a piece of his mind.

He makes a quick call to Ryan, but he can’t get out of work without getting into major trouble. Louis tells him he’d be happy to watch him. They spend the day together, they go to the park, watch part of a little league baseball game, and even get ice cream afterwards. Louis remembers doing these things with his father when he was Aiden’s age.

After Ryan gets out of work, he invites Louis over to grab some dinner, it’s the least he could do as Ryan says. Louis doesn’t mind because he likes spending time with them both. They cut up and laugh; there is a good connection with both Aiden and Ryan. Louis doesn’t realize that this might be the point where he got into deep.

+

Meanwhile, Zayn and Liam are pretending to be listening/watching an episode of the old 90210, but in reality, they were more fixed on the other than to pay attention to some 90’s sitcom. They talked more than anything, and Liam thought his insides were going to collapse from laughing so hard.

Harry and Niall come in shortly after Zayn makes a complete idiot out of himself, talking about something his sisters and how they used to gang up on him. Harry winks at Zayn, and Zayn feels his face flush.

“So, what are you two doing?” Harry’s voice all full of innuendos that makes Liam shift uncomfortably on the couch.

Zayn shakes his head, “Actually, I was about to leave. I have to get back to my drawing. The deadline is coming up faster than I would like.”

Liam smiles and stands up, waiting for Zayn to take his hand before they both walk to the front door, Zayn ignoring Harry’s eyebrow wiggle and Liam ignoring his nudge in the side and whisper to “Get some, Payne.”

He rolls his eyes as he walks Zayn out. They are standing on the front porch, Zayn fiddles with the zipper on his jacket. “Err, I had a good time.” He says awkwardly, and it wouldn’t have been so bad but he kept going. “Not that this was a date.” He stumbles over his words, “Not that I don’t think you’re dateable.” He groans at his own awkwardness. “Sorry, it’s just… I have a hard time speaking in front of you for some reason.”

Liam laughs, he can’t help it, and soon Zayn joins in, breaking the incredibly awkwardness that Harry seemed to have created when he was being creepy. “I find it cute.” Liam almost squeaks out.

Zayn freezes for a moment and a smile plays on his lips. “Well does that mean I can take you out this Friday?”

Liam is a little taken back, he really should have seen this coming, but the words still stop him. Should he really be dating someone when everything is going to well in his life already? He knows the boys would tell him to do what makes him happy, but he’s so used to his life right now, would dating Zayn change that?

More than likely, but when Zayn breaks the silence and states, “You’re thinking too much.” It reminds him of just how well Zayn fits into the group.

“Yes.” He breathes.

+

Liam fidgets nervously; he doesn’t do well when he’s nervous. His palms get sweaty and he stutters a lot. Any other time it might be cute and adorable, but right now it’s just plain annoying. His thumb drums on his thigh as he waits for the boys to finish their dinner. He hasn’t told them the good news yet, afraid that they discourage him from continuing things further with Zayn.

One person he knew he wouldn’t have a problem with is Harry; he’s been trying to push the two together for ages now. The problem is that what if things don’t work out with Zayn and it all falls apart, it’s not just his life that it would change, but Harry’s as well, seeing as he works with the guy. On the other hand, what if things do work out and none of the boys really click or like Zayn? They’re his best mates, he can’t choose a guy over his friends, and it just wasn’t like him to do so.

So after everyone’s stuffed with the brilliant spaghetti that Niall made, Liam gathers up his courage to break the good (or bad) news to the group. “Er, soo, I wanted to tell you guys something, get your opinions.”

Harry perks up at Liam’s words. “He finally asked you out, didn’t he?”

Well that was a bit anticlimactic, Liam’s face falls. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Just a guess.” He gives Louis and Niall a little wink. “So did you say yes? Please tell me you did.”

It’s Liam’s turn to blush now, heat starting from the tip of his ears to the base of his neck. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.”

“Whoa! Congratulations, bro!” Louis says, throwing an arm around Liam’s shoulder. “Go get some.” Liam just rolls his eyes at Louis antics, and Harry slaps a hand over Louis mouth.

“Shut up Louis, he’s not going to be giving it up that easily.” Harry and Louis both laugh, and Liam shakes his head. Everyone is busy discussing Liam’s date; what he’s going to wear, where they might go, have they set a date yet. Everyone is entirely too busy being too happy for Liam that they miss Niall.

His eyes widen at the thought of Zayn being closer to the group. It’s not that he doesn’t like Zayn, that’s not it, but he’s seen it way too many times in Liam, getting his hopes up and them being crushed only to have him and the rest of the boys to put him back together. No one wants to stick around with a blind person, especially when they have choices.

Niall’s ignoring the chatter between Louis and Harry as they gossip about God knows what, probably planning Liam’s wedding now for all he knows, as he moves into Liam’s space. “You really like him?” he asks, bracing himself for the answer.

“I do,” Liam smiles, as he pats Niall on the shoulder. Niall tries to smile for the benefit of the rest, and squeezes Liam’s hand before heading off to the bedroom to get ready for bed.

Aggravated, Niall saunters into the bathroom, yanking his toothbrush out of the holder. He brushes his teeth in silence, then spits out the foam once he’s finished. He grabs the mouthwash and rinses his mouth before plopping it back down on the counter a little harder than he wanted. He tries not to make too much noise, because he knows the lads, they’ll be in here in no time, especially Harry and he can’t keep his emotions down around Harry when they’re this fresh.

He looks in the mirror and sighs, trying to calm himself down. Once he calm, he leaves the bathroom with a deep breath, walking to the living room to see what the others are still up to. Liam has wandered off, probably in his room getting ready for bed. Louis and Harry are exactly where he had left them before going to the bathroom; talking adamantly about something.

When Niall walks in, they are ‘arguing’ about some detail. Laughing, Harry pushes Louis over the back of the couch. Louis grabs Harry at the last second and pulls him down with him. They roll off the couch and Louis lands on top of Harry and proceed to tickle him into submission. “Agree or die!” he yells.

Niall laughs, and when Harry whines, he decides he better intervine. He pulls Harry up, as the younger lad beams at him. “Aw, my hero!” he gives him a big kiss. Niall laughs, tugging Harry to their room stating that it’s time for bed.

+

The next day, while Harry and Niall are both in at the restaurant, in the middle of cooking, Harry’s phone rings. Harry looks at it and smiles, answering it.

“I don’t know what to do. I’m freaking out, where do I take him? What do I wear?” Harry has to look at his phone again to make sure that he’s talking to Zayn, the normally laidback, calm individual.

Before Harry can say anything though, Niall brushes by, calling out, “Away from the soup! You remember what happened to the last two phones!” Harry looks a mock hurt at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking ab…” Harry grows silent for a few moments. “Uh…” he looks up and back at Niall. “Can I borrow your phone?” Niall’s back is to Harry, stirring something in a saucepan.

“Why?” he turns around to look at Harry with a incredulous expression. “Really? That’s the third phone this year! You insurance doesn’t cover butterfingers and boiling liquids!” his voice never raises, but Harry can tell he’s irritated. For whatever reason though, probably because Niall loves him to death, he hands off his phone after wiping hands on a dish towel. “Take it OUTSIDE, you clutz!” he kisses Harry’s forehead and takes the soup Harry dropped his phone in to the sink to fish out the phone.

Zayn stares at his phone. “He hung up on me.” Just as he murmurs this though, an unknown number calls him. “Hello?”

“Sorry, err… dropped my phone in the soup.” Zayn blinks, thinking he’s going to skip on the soup for a little while now. “Don’t worry; Niall’s probably throwing it away as we speak. So, what’s up?” Harry asks nonchalantly.

Zayn is having a meltdown, that’s what’s up. “Err… well, I… What do I do? I can’t just take him to the movies!” he wails, on the other end, Harry’s eyebrows raise.

“Calm down, we got this.” Zayn breathes deeply, trying to calm himself. People around him are starting to look at him like he’s got some serious issues, and to Zayn they actually are.

“Okay, so what should I do?” he runs a hand through his hair.

Harry paces back and forth in the hallway, dodging a waitress with empty dishes. “Start with a nice dinner a the mom and pop café near the park, so when you’re done eating you can take a walk through the park – it’s his favorite.” Zayn scribbles this all down on a napkin, and mumbles along to make sure he’s getting it all down right. “Then take him to the movies, we do watch movies you know.”

Zayn blinks, “Uh, okay, what movie?” Harry rolls his eyes at this question.

“Something with explosions and romance,” as if that is the most obvious thing in the world.

He’s calming down now that he has some ideas on what to do with their first date. “Thanks man. You’re a good guy” He breathes, relaxing a bit for the first time since he went home the night before and stressed about what he was going to do for Liam to impress him.

“No problem, have fun… and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He grins at this, thinking if there was anything he wouldn’t do and backtracks a bit. “Seriously, Liam hasn’t been on a date in a while, if you make him cry I’ll hurt you.”

+

Liam comes home from work later that day. He’s nervous again, but this time it’s about the date he’s supposed to be having with Zayn later that night. What if he fucks up? What if Zayn doesn’t like him like that? He has a bunch of what if’s and no good answers. He’s never been like this before, at least from what he can remember, must mean that he is really into this guy.

He sighs, being careful when he maneuvers in the living room just in case Louis wanted to come home during his lunch and switch around all the furniture. He makes it to his bedroom without incident, but he’s seriously contemplating calling and canceling the date.

Zayn’s a good guy, he deserves so much better than Liam. He’s made it a point to not be defined by his ‘disability’ all his life, but this is where it really matters. No one stuck around long enough, they didn’t want a blind boyfriend, and they didn’t know how to handle it. The only constant in his life was the three boys he lived with. His own parents threw him away when they weren’t able to deal with the idea of having a blind son.

They pay for things; sure, that’s how they show their love. They can’t just be there for him and support him in things that matter; they just try to buy him. His parents’ love and nurturing left the night of the accident, the exact moment when they found out that their son would never be able to see again.

Once Zayn gets close enough to see things clearly, he’ll leave too. He has nothing tying him down to Liam, no reason to want to stay with him. For God sakes, he’s an artist and artists need to see. Liam of all people knew that, that’s why he hadn’t wanted anything to do with the career he had lost all those years ago.

By the time Louis comes home from work an hour later, Liam is practically in tears in his bedroom, phone cradled in his hand. Louis doesn’t waste time, throwing his things down and bringing Liam into a hug. He feels the wetness on his shoulder to indicate that in fact Liam is crying. “I don’t think I can do this…” he sobs.

Louis knows that this means a lot to Liam, and sees how distressed the boy is. He enters his ‘mom’ mode. “Shhh, you’re going to be fine. You already know he likes you, now all you got to do is be yourself and you’ll do fine.” He tries soothing him by patting the back of Liam’s head, running fingers through the thick brown hair.

After a moment, whenever he’s collected himself enough to pull back so Louis can see his whole face, Liam speaks. “I don’t know what to wear. What if I dress the wrong way? He’s going to think I’m an idiot and oh god what if…” he’s starting to panic again, Louis sees that, and stops him before it can get out of hand again.

“Hold on, I’ll fix that.” He pats Liam’s shoulders, moves to the brunette’s closet, picking out something that Zayn would like. He throws them at Liam and smiles. “Put these on,” he says as he walks to the bathroom where Liam keeps his toiletries and grabs the hair paste. He comes back shortly afterwards to help Liam button his shirt and straighten it before he helps him style his hair the way that looks best on him. When the doorbell rings, Louis smiles, “Alright, you’re ready! Go get ‘em tiger!” he says, pushing Liam out of his bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on[ tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks can be found [ here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	8. The first of many.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s takes fifty-five seconds for a life to change: silence is the scariest part of the aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zayn and Liam’s many firsts, and Niall has to deal with some of his emotions.

Zayn is standing at the door waiting for someone to answer it. He’s fiddling with the hem of his shirt, wondering if he’s worn the right thing. He sighs, his nerves getting the better of him again. He tries to relax. Peering into the windows that are beside the door to see if anyone is coming to the door, Zayn discovers that the blinds are closed. He wonders briefly if anyone’s even home, that’s until he hears arguing on the other side of the door.

He smooths out his shirt, checking to see if he needs any last minute adjustments, when Louis opens the door. “He’ll be out in just a minute. Why don’t you come in?” Zayn nods at Louis, brushing past him when he moves to the side to allow him in. He walks to the familiar living room he’s been in countless times, noticing that the door to Liam’s bedroom is shut.

“So…” Louis says as he walks in behind him. “What are your intentions with Liam? What do you do for a living? Can you support Liam on that salary?” Zayn is taken back at the sudden bombardment of questions that Louis seems to grill him on.

“You know what I do…” he tries to say but is quickly interrupted by Louis.

“Answer the question…” he has a serious look on his face and suddenly, Zayn is fearful of his life.

He tries to think and answer each of the questions as truthfully and in a way that would impress Louis. Before Louis can fire back with any more questions though, Liam’s bedroom door opens and said boy walks out, head down, cane in hand. Zayn is stunned, he’s always thought Liam was a work of art, but he looks incredible. He smiles, glancing at Louis, who is giving him an encouraging look. He turns back to Liam and walks forward, “You look amazing.” He simply states, eyes smiling.

Liam is blushing now, “Good because I thought maybe Lou put me in something ridiculous.”

“No you look fantastic.” He laughs at Liam’s statement, and Louis retorts with a scowl. Zayn reaches out to grabs Liam’s hand, very aware that Louis gaze is boring into him. Instead, Zayn rubs the back of his head, “Err, ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Liam smiles, making his way to the front door, Zayn following and Louis is not too far behind them both.

“Now, don’t stay out too late, I expect you to have him home by 10:00, not 10:01, not 10:05, 10:00, you got that?” Louis eyes are glaring and Zayn gulps. He has had fathers look at him like that but none of them are as scary as Louis is being right now.

“Louis” Liam warns, reaching and grabbing Zayn’s elbow. “Let’s go before Louis starts giving us the talk.” Zayn chuckles uneasy about this, looking at Louis whose eyebrow is arched, gulping, and quickly follows Liam out the door.

The date is rocky at first. There are awkward pauses when they can’t find anything to talk about. When one starts to speak the other one begins to speak at the same time, causing them to fumble on their words, apologize, and then let the other speak. They laugh it off most of the time, and eventually, talking comes more easily to them.

On their way to the diner, Zayn gets lost, but ultimately tells Liam what is going on when they’ve walk for twenty minutes in circles.  Liam happily takes Zayn to the exact diner, stating he’s been here millions of times and it’s his favorite place. Score one for Zayn Malik.

They order and share a milkshake for dessert. There is something completely romantic about being completely cheesy. Zayn is not normally this willing to go out of his way to impress someone, but Liam’s different, Liam deserves the best.

While they eat, they talk about everything: life, jobs, and future ambitions. Zayn tries to stay clear of anything Liam doesn’t want to talk about, knowing that this date is his only shot to let Liam know he is really interested in pursuing a relationship with him beyond just friendship.

Liam’s got Zayn laughing so hard at one point that tears are forming on the corner of his eyes. When the check comes, Zayn almost hits the waitress as she sets the ticket down because he’s laughing so hard. He apologizes profusely while Liam tries hard not to smile a goofy smile while he thinks Zayn is being completely adorable while asking for forgiveness.

After Zayn pays for the ticket, leaving a generous amount of tip for the waitress, they head to the park. Liam can smell it before they even get there. “The park?” he asks, smiling because Harry isn’t lying, this is his favorite place.

“Yeah, I figure we could hang out here until our movie starts.” Zayn says, looking down at Liam’s hand that is clutched to his cane.

They walk for a bit, silently. They listen to the hustle and bustle of the city around them, the sounds growing quitter the deeper they head into the park. The sounds of birds and squirrels settling in for the night are all around them, as Zayn makes his move. He smoothly, well as smoothing as he can, slides his hand underneath Liam’s, taking his hand in his own. Liam smiles at this, situating his fingers so he can intertwine them with Zayn’s.

This part of the evening is much more relaxed and it feels like it’s just the two of them. They walk another yard or so before the settle on a bench. Time passes without them realizing it, they’re so involved with their conversation and one another that before they know it the time for the movie has come and went.

Zayn looks at his watch, groaning, “Oh no.” Liam furrows his eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?”

Chuckling, Zayn looks over at Liam, “We’re an hour late to the movie.” Liam laughs and snuggles against Zayn.

“That’s all right, I had a great time. This is better than any movie.” He smiles, closing his eyes to take in Zayn’s scent.

“Don’t be too sure about that, there are explosions and action and oddly enough romance in that movie.” He chuckles, wrapping an arm around Liam’s shoulders.

“Aw man, that does sound better. Maybe me and the boys can catch it another time.” He teases, feeling Zayn stiffen and grow very quiet. “I’d like it better though if maybe we went to see it next time together.”

Zayn perks up at the possibility of taking Liam out on another date. “Really? You want to maybe go Saturday night?”

“I’d love that.” Liam almost whispers, though Zayn is close enough to hear it, a smile etched on both of their faces.

Zayn walks Liam home after another minute of playfully arguing if the Liam can bring the boys along the next time. They settle that it is in their best interest not to bring them finally. Once they are standing outside the door of Liam’s house, Zayn releases his hand to let him go.

“I had a nice time.” Liam says, smiling at him as he fishes for his key out of his pocket. “Thanks.”

Zayn almost blushes, he’s not really sure why, but he has a feeling it’s because he’s never really been thanked for taking someone out on a date. “No problem. See you soon?” he asks, and Liam nods before turning around and unlocking the door. Zayn waits until Liam is inside and close the door before turning and skips towards his apartment with a sappy grin on his face.

Liam maneuvers his way through the living room to his bedroom. He opens his door and begins to take off his jacket and unbutton his shirt and pants. “Sooo…how was it?” Liam jumps, the sound of Louis voice scaring him.

“Oh my god Lou, don’t do that, you scared me to death!” he fumbles with his clothes as he knows he’s probably ripped his shirt due to Louis scaring him mid-unbuttoning. Once the shock of being scared is over with, the same foolish smile he had before returns. “I had fun.” He says goofily and slides his trousers down and heads to the bed.

Louis gets out of Liam’s bed and kisses his forehead. “Have a good night’s sleep.” He grins, patting Liam’s back before he heads to his own room extremely happy for his friend. He’ll get the details from Liam in the morning.

+

A week passes from the night Liam and Zayn go on their first date. They go to the movie they missed and hang out nearly every day they can. They’ve become quite the pair, always seen with one another if their jobs don’t get in the way. Today, Zayn has a great idea to show Liam the city in a different way. The way Zayn sees it through his eyes. Unlike Liam and the others, he’s only been here for two years, and being an artist, you see things differently than most; you also know the places with the richest colors so to speak. That’s where Zayn wants to take Liam; to the places most people brush off.

He is taking him to all the tourist attractions that normally get looked over by people who are just visiting, along with some of the ones that are popular that even Zayn can’t deny the beauty of. They go to the expected parks and even by the White House, but Zayn also takes him to a place he knows with great music; a little corner of an unpopular street. The people there are friendly and even pull Liam in for a couple of dances. Liam’s smile never falters, he laughs while he dancing and Zayn doesn’t think he’s ever seen something so beautiful. That’s when he is pushed out there too, taking Liam into his arms and trying his best to lead him in the type of dancing the people around them are doing. He’s fails miserably at it, but the laughter and smiles around them manages to win over any feelings of embarrassment the two might have.

After dancing, they go to the streets where all the different venders are. There is a man selling handcrafted jewelry. Zayn spots a woven bracelet with blue, orange, and green woven into the hemp. He buys it and smiles as he makes Liam hold out his arm. He ties it around his wrist and looks at it happily. “It’s something to remember this day by.” Liam is beaming, finding Zayn’s hand and interlocking their fingers together.

They head back shortly after that, Zayn has got to work the late shift at the art store. “Coming over for dinner, right?” Liam asks when they are standing in front of his house.

Zayn smiles as he leans in and kisses Liam’s cheek, “Of course.” They haven’t had their first kiss yet, Zayn being too afraid he might go too fast for Liam and he wants their first kiss to be perfect, because that’s what Liam deserves –perfection.

When Zayn is done with his shift that night, he walks the familiar trip to Liam’s house, being greeted by an enthusiastic Louis. They are waiting for Niall to bring the dinner, since he has agreed to bring something home from his shift at the restaurant.

When he finally comes home from work, he puts the boxes of food on the table. He has four, one for each of the boys until Harry pipes up with a problem. “Err, where’s Zayns plate love?” he asks, looking up at Niall. Niall knows that Zayn is going to be there for lunch; Harry has called him twice just to make sure he remembers to get enough food for everyone, but he just couldn’t comply. “I called you.” There is concern in Harry’s facial features.

“Mmm, must of forgot.” He tries to pull it off like an accident.

“No problem,” Liam chimes in, “He can share with me.” Niall’s face falls as he shoves his plate away without taking a bite. He grumbles something about not being hungry and trudges off to the bedroom, which he firmly shuts the door to.

Harry blinks, looking at Louis, who merely shrugs, “Dig in, I guess.”

Harry’s starting to see something is really wrong with Niall. He thinks Niall is feeling guilty again, and it doesn’t surprise him. Niall has always battled the guilt of  _that_  night. Harry’s been through this before with him, and no matter how much he tries telling him, it isn’t his fault what happened with Louis and Liam, Niall doesn’t want to believe or just doesn’t believe at all that it’s true.

He does his usual to try to consul him, trying to get him to talk and open up. He’s even tries to get Niall to see someone, a therapist perhaps, but all that ends in is a fight. Harry seems to get through to him most of the time though, and he feels like what he’s doing is working, but Niall’s also been really good this time of hiding his emotions.

Niall does feel guilty, sure, but this is so much more than that now. Zayn has pushed his way into their lives without any regard to what might happen to Liam if he gets scared and runs. He doesn’t like the change.

This has been happening for weeks, even before Liam went on that date with Zayn. The boy has been over almost every day after the date or he has always been off with Liam doing God knows what. He really doesn’t like the fact that Zayn is hanging out with his boyfriend and Louis while he’s waiting for Liam to get off work either. All three of them are laughing about something that Niall has absolutely no idea about when he gets home and all Niall wants to do is throw something at them all. He feels left out, he’s the only one that’s really not connected to Zayn and it really is his own fault.

As the rest eat, Liam, Zayn, and Louis raddle on about different topics Harry will never began to be able to keep up with as his mind wanders to the Irishman who’s probably in their room sulking. After Harry manages to eat half his meal, he excuses himself, placing both his and Niall’s plate of food in the refrigerator before heading to the bedroom. He finds that Niall’s already asleep though, so he strips down and crawls into bed next to him.

When the trio has eaten, Louis retires back to his own bedroom to get ready for bed while Liam idles on about a prank Louis did once to a guy in a frat while the others were in college. He’s so adamant about the story that Zayn can’t help but to find him cute.

Without thinking, he leans in and pecks Liam on the lips while Liam is still talking. Lips hit open mouth, probably be the worst first kiss ever. It surprises the brunette and he falters as Zayn moves back. Liam’s hand catches his elbow though and he has no choice but to sit there in his own embarrassment. “What? Did that just happen?” the younger male blinks.

Zayn shift uncomfortably, running the hand that’s not attached to the elbow Liam’s holding through his hair. “Err, well, you’re just so beautiful… I just couldn’t help it, I had to-“ Liam shuts him up as he leans forward, cupping Zayn cheek with his hand before giving him a proper kiss on the lips. After a moment, they both pull back with equally silly smiles and memorized eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on[ tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks can be found [ here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	9. Don't make me punch you in the face.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry’s concerned for Niall’s odd behavior and Liam asks Zayn a very important question.

Harry has noticed Niall’s lack of participation with the group for the past few mornings and it’s really starting to worry him. By the time Harry can open his eyes, Niall’s out of the bed and in the shower. He’s not eating with them at breakfast; instead he mumbles something about picking something on the way to work. He’s becoming less and less sociable over the past several weeks, and Harry’s beginning to get a little concerned.

He’s never seen Niall’s guilt fester up this badly before. Harry is used to the Niall avoiding everyone when he’s feeling guilty, especially Liam, but he’s never had to deal with Niall avoiding _him_. He’s always been the one Niall’s opened up to, and it’s weird that he can’t even get him to speak about it now.

Trying to console Niall usually helps the situation, like just letting him know Harry’s for him. Harry has even tried to do things for him that he hopes will get him out of his funk, like leave him notes of encouragement and love in the places he knows Niall will be at, like the bathroom in the mornings. But they go unnoticed; of if Niall does see them he hasn’t said a word to Harry about them. All this has worked before, but not this time.

He even tries to cook dinner for him. Paying off the boys for the night, Harry sets the table like one of those fancy French restaurants that they’ve only been able to afford to go to on special occasions. He fixes French bread and lasagna. Harry goes all out for this, even downloading some soft music to set the mood. Tonight is all about Niall; tonight is about making him feel loved and appreciated.

Hours pass before Niall comes home, however, and Harry is asleep on the couch waiting for him. Niall doesn’t even bother waking Harry from his sleep to inform him that he’s home. It’s only when Liam and Louis get home at three in the morning that he’s woken up.

 “How did your dinner go that you had to kick us out of the house for?” Louis says, sounding a bit distraught.

Harry looks around; groggy, the place in utter darkness, Liam must have already gone to his bedroom, because he doesn’t see him anywhere. He blinks a few times, rubbing his eyes. He stumbles into the kitchen, where the plates made for two are still sitting. The clock blares 3:05 and Harry’s eyes widen. He turns around and looks at Louis, who follows him in there. “Did Niall come home?”

Without waiting for an answer, he pushes past him and marches down the hall to the bedroom he shares with Niall. It’s dark, but his eyes have adjusted as no one has turned on the lights in the house. Niall is sound asleep in the bed. Harry leans back on the doorframe, surprised.

He thought Niall would have woken him up when he got in. They always go to bed together. Harry turns and shuts the door behind him. He needs to put the food away before heading to bed. As he walks into the living room to go to the kitchen to clean his mess, Louis shakes his head, mumbling something that Harry thinks is something along the lines of ‘get him some help’ before he says his goodnights and goes to his bedroom.

Harry dumps the food in plastic containers and sticks them in the refrigerator before trudging back to his bedroom. He gives one last look at Niall before cuddling up in the warm blankets. It takes him forever to fall asleep that night. He tosses and turns, unable to get a proper sleep while still worrying about Niall.

When he wakes up, it’s daylight, the sun beaming behind the blinds that Niall and him leave shut because neither one of them can sleep with too much sunlight. There can be noises heard in the bathroom that’s connected to their bedroom and Harry rolls over to face the doorway.

Niall’s in there and Harry doesn’t know whether to leave him be or try to talk to him. Everyone knows, especially him, that he can never leave things alone, so he pushes himself off the bed and walks into the bathroom. Niall’s fixing his hair and the two boys lock eyes in the mirror when Harry enters. “Made you dinner last night.” When there isn’t a response, he continues, “I even kicked the boys out so we could be alone.” He walks up beside Niall, watching him through the mirror.

“Oh?” there is an unusual pause before, “It was late when I got home last night; you were asleep on the couch. You looked too peaceful; I didn’t want to disturb you.” Niall is putting toothpaste on his toothbrush when he speaks, and Harry glances at his hands while he does this, before locking back on blue eyes.

“I just wanted to do something for you. You know, make you feel special because I can’t live without you.” He’s getting sentimental, knowing that if it weren’t for Niall, he would have given up a long time ago. While he has his own faults, his own vices, Niall’s been there every step of the way. He just hopes that whatever Niall’s going through, he can be there for him too.

Niall’s facial expression softens at this, before Harry knows it, putting the toothbrush down on the counter and pulling Harry into a hug. “I can’t live without you either.” He pulls back, kissing Harry on the cheek and rubbing his thumb over the opposite one. “And I’m sorry I missed dinner. I bet it was good.” He leans in and kisses Harry softly on the lips. Harry leans into it, forgetting everything for a moment.

Once Niall breaks the kiss, however, concern fills his mind again. “You know you can always talk to me, right?” Niall just nods, removing his hands from Harry and continues the process of brushing his teeth in silence. Harry stays there until Niall finishes and heads out of the bathroom, following him into the kitchen where it seems like the two boys are the only ones left at home.

+

Louis has been spending time with Aiden, more so recently. He’s been taking him to and from baseball practices after school. Ryan works late, so Louis made it his job to make sure Aiden gets where he needs to be especially since he’s the one that signed him up for the team.

He loves Aiden, the boy reminds him of himself at that age. While he’s not technically supposed to be spending extra time with Aiden outside of sessions, he can’t help it. The boy grew on him. Aiden’s case started off like any other, just getting to know the boy. Within a few sessions though, Louis became a part of almost every aspect of Aiden’s life. Due to the fact that Aiden is a big part of Louis’ life now, so is his father, Ryan.

Ryan is an active parent, always making sure he’s in constant contact with Louis and in tuned to Aiden’s need. Even if he works a lot of the time, he’s always there in the afternoons with dinner ready when Louis drops him off. That’s where it gets confusing for Louis. He really doesn’t know what’s happening. It’s just so easy to get along with Ryan, to talk to him and laugh. It really had been awhile since someone’s made him laugh like that beside the boys. He gets along with him so well, he’s found himself sitting and talking for hours when Aiden’s already went in, done his homework, ate his dinner, and ready for Ryan to tuck him in for bed. He has no clue why he’s got butterflies in his stomach whenever he talks with Ryan either. They laugh and joke and have a good time with one another, it’s easy to lose himself in the conversation.

Aiden being the smart eight year old that he is, figures out that there is something going on even before Louis does, bringing it to Louis attention one day as he is driving him home from practice.

Aiden’s fiddling with his baseball glove, after growing extremely quiet once he finished telling a story about a kid on his team getting hit in the eye with a ball. Louis knows there is something up immediately. Louis and Aiden have been growing close, which means Louis knows when something on the youths mind. “What’s wrong?” Louis asks, glancing over at the boy.

Without any hesitation what-so-ever, Aiden replies with his own question: “Do you like my daddy?” He looks hopeful at Louis, catching him off guard.

Louis is uncertain what he feels for Aiden’s father. There is some flirting, yes, even Louis can’t deny that, but he’s not so sure he wants to pursue something with Ryan, especially when Aiden is so important to him. “Well, of course, we’re good friends.” He says, hopefully saving himself and Ryan from a very awkward conversation. Aiden stares up at him for a moment, like he’s sizing Louis up before he nods slowly.

When Louis drops him off at the house, he doesn’t really know how to act with Ryan while he’s talking to him. What usually comes so easy is awkward now. Of course he’s his usual polite and happy self, but he’s not too sure what’s crossing the line, especially when Aiden is watching both men carefully.

After Louis asks Ryan how his day goes, and they laugh a little about some joke Ryan’s co-worker told him today that Ryan chose to share. Ryan fidgets a little before rubbing the back of his head with his hand. “Just finished dinner, you think you could stay and have dinner with us? I know it would mean a lot to Aiden.” He gives him a genuine smile and Louis melts into place. It doesn’t help that his stomach does flips when Ryan puts his hand on Louis’ arm. He couldn’t say no if he really wanted to. He couldn’t do that to _Aiden_ now could he?

+

Liam’s in the kitchen when the phone rings. He putters his way to the sound of the ringing before reaching for the phone. He picks it up and answers. “Hello?”

“Hey Liam! It’s Lou; I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be able to make it to dinner tonight. I’m grabbing dinner with Aiden and Ryan.” Liam smirks at this information.

“Okay, have fun!” He chuckles when Louis lets out a nervous laugh. Moments later, they hang up and Niall walks into the kitchen with Harry. “Hey guys, Lou won’t be in for dinner, looks like it’s just us and Zayn tonight.”

Niall doesn’t seem to respond to this information, partly because Harry is watching him, and partly because he’s taking he doesn’t feel like answering any questions about it. He opens the fridge up and takes out the left over lasagna that Harry had made the night before without a word. Harry’s the one that breaks the silence though. “I think me and Niall are going to cut out early, so you and Zayn can have some alone time.” He says mischievously. Niall rolls his eyes just as there is a knock on the door. “I’ll get it!” Harry calls as he watches Niall start to reheat the lasagna.

Harry comes back moments later with a beaming Zayn. The raven-haired boy makes his way towards Liam, where he gives him a quick kiss on the lips, which still manages to make Liam blush. Niall pretends to take no notice while Harry shakes his head, chuckling.

Once the food is ready, Niall turns to Harry without looking at Zayn or Liam. “Hey, why don’t we take this back to the room, have that dinner we we’re supposed to have?” Harry happily agrees and smirks at the other couple.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He warns Liam, giving a wink in Zayn’s direction, as he skips merrily to the bedroom with Niall following closely behind.

Liam shakes his head, “I’d rather not know what they plan on doing.” Both him and Zayn chuckle as they dig into the lasagna.

By the time Louis gets home from Ryan and Aiden’s, Zayn has went home to get some sleep before his early shift at the store tomorrow. “You’re home late.” Liam states when he hears the front door open and close as Louis straggles into the living room, where Liam is listening to a movie on some channel – Louis really thinks it’s the Hallmark channel.

“Yeah, stayed later than I expected.” Is all the information Louis cares to give up because he’s not entirely sure what’s happening. The dinner with Ryan confuses the Doncaster fellow more than before. “Err, Li?” Liam perks up at his name, knowing what follows is serious. “I think Ryan likes me… and I might like him to.” Louis blushes furiously at this information. It sounds more ridiculous when he says it out loud.

Liam knows what this means. It jeopardizes Louis’ job. He’s supposed to be a third party, a bystander, now he’s making it personal. But it’s been so long since he’s heard Louis mention anything else with such enthusiasm as he does with Aiden and Ryan. “Does he make you happy?”

Louis sighs, plopping down on the couch, resting his head on Liam’s shoulder. When he nods his head, and responds with “rubbish isn’t it?” Liam laughs and pats the top of his friend’s head.

“I think you should go for it.” Liam encourages.

+

With Harry and Niall busy with the restaurant and Louis busy with his own problems, Liam has more time in his life than ever before. He’s bored at home, waiting for the boys to come home when he has an idea. He’ll take Zayn some lunch; he knows that Zayn is working at the store today.

He feels his way around the kitchen, making a sandwich with the leftover turkey Harry had brought home from the restaurant the other day. He slaps a bit of mayo on it along with some lettuce, a slice of tomato, and a piece of cheese. Not long after that, he’s making his way to the store that’s only a few blocks away from where they live. His cane makes scraping noises as it hits the concrete of the sidewalk, fingers trailing along the bricks of the building he pass until he feels the familiar texture of art supply bricks.

When the door dings as it opens, Zayn is surprised to see that it’s Liam. “Hey, didn’t know you were coming today.” He gets up to greet him with a soft kiss and leads him to the desk, where he clears off a chair and lets Liam sit down. “What brings you here?” It’s when Liam produces a small bag that Zayn smiles. He takes it, opening it reveals a cold can of coke, a wrapped sandwich, and a bag of chips. “You brought me lunch? Thank you!” he quickly leans forward, pecking Liam on the cheek.

Liam beams at him and pauses for a moment to listen to the noises. “Slow day?” he guesses.

Zayn has a mouth full of sandwich when he mumbles a ‘yeah’. Both boys laugh and Zayn washes his bite down with a swallow of coke. They continue to talk idly as Zayn enjoys the lunch Liam brought him.

Back home, Niall unlocks the door coming in with a bag of containers in it full of Liam’s lunch. He sets it down on the counter before he calls out Liam’s name to get his lunch. After a brief pause, Niall walks through the living room to his and Harry’s bedroom and back again. Its then that he realizes that Liam’s not there. Where could he be?

Before he panics, he sees the note on the fridge scribbled in Liam’s awful handwriting. He’s with Zayn. “Always with that damn Zayn.” He mumbles before practically throwing the food in the fridge. “We were just fine before he came along.” He mutters, grabbing his key and heading back out the door. His last thought before seeing Harry’s smiling face is that Liam’s going to get hurt and Niall’s not going to be the one who will pick up the pieces again. He has no clue what Liam is thinking these days.

+

Niall swears they’re doing this on purpose in front of him. Zayn’s always touching Liam and Liam allows it. If they aren’t touching, they make excuses to touch, like fixing a stray hair or picking lent off Liam’s shirt. Niall can even see that they’re holding hands underneath the table while the rest of the boys are trying to eat. He quickly loses his appetite at the site.

The rest of the boys don’t seem to care, actually it seems like they’re encouraging it, Harry especially. This makes Niall feel a little bit betrayed, Harry is supposed to be on his side. If Niall was thinking straight, he could tell this is a ridiculous thought, but it doesn’t sting any less.

Niall is brought back to the real world when the boys erupt in laughter as he realizes it’s because Zayn is trying to feed some ice cream to Liam. For all Niall knows, Harry and Louis probably dared Zayn to see if he could successful feed Liam. Niall rolls his eyes as Zayn makes a mess of things, smearing the vanilla ice cream all over Liam’s lips, even when they are clearly wide open for the spoon to enter. Liam could probably do a better job than what he’s doing.

Zayn’s laughing too hard. He can’t seem to put the spoon in the right place as he continues to make a mess on Liam’s lips and the side of his mouth. Giving up, he places the spoon back in his bowl, but leans into to a very much laughing Liam and presses open mouth kisses on his lips and side of his mouth, effectively shutting the boy up. Zayn tastes the vanilla ice cream as he then moves to give Liam one more proper kiss on the mouth before setting back in his chair. It occurs to NIall that Zayn is doing it on purpose.

Niall finds the catcalls and whistles that Harry and Louis are doing to be rather annoying. Zayn is just eating up this attention as he bows his head to his audience, having a laughing Liam leaning into his space. Zayn is pulling everyone to his side, Niall can feel it. Even as he glances over at Harry, he sees the corner of his lips growing ever so close to his eyes as he smiles brightly, feeding into Zayn idiocy.

Once dessert is over –Niall believe it’s never lasted this long – Zayn helps Liam with the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. The boys long ago came up with the system that if whoever cooks, the others clean. Zayn takes Louis’ place this time, smirking as he tells Louis, “You’ll get my turn next.”

After the dishes are done, Zayn and Liam retire to the living room, where they cuddle up on the couch. Liam’s head is resting in Zayn’s lap as the older make starts to read to him from a book he has picked up from his own collection that he thought Liam might like. As Harry and Niall walk past, Harry tugs on Niall’s shirt, nodding towards the cuddling couple as they walk by. Niall just simply turns back around and starts getting undressed when he enters the bedroom, not even waiting for Harry to shut the door.

“They’re so cute! Don’t you think?” Harry beams; it seems he’s more excited about Liam’s love life these days rather than his own.

“Sure.” Niall says a bit more sarcastic than he really wanted.

Harry rolls his eyes. “Why do you do that every time?”

“Do what?” Niall raises an eyebrow as he looks over at Harry before pulling on his pajama bottoms.

“You know, dismiss Liam and Zayn. You do it every time I try to talk to you about it.” Harry walks up behind Niall, reaching out a hand to touch him, but thinks better of it and just simply lets his hand fall to his side.

“I’m just tired babe, it’s been a long day.” He lies, moving to kiss Harry on the forehead before pulling the covers back on the bed and settling in for the night. Harry huffs but slinks in bed by crawling over Niall to get to his side. Niall laughs, wrapping his arms around Harry once the boys under the covers. “Night love.”

+

“So,” Liam states a few days later as he’s walking Zayn to his house as he has spent the day at the store once again. While Liam doesn’t want anything to do with art, he makes an effort to keep Zayn company in a place he’d rather not be. Whenever a customer comes in, he tunes out, thinking about what subject he’s going to breach next with Zayn. Liam doesn’t go there for the art supplies; it’s Zayn.

It’s not that Liam doesn’t support Zayn’s career choice, it’s just he’s jealous. He would never tell Zayn this, but he just wishes he could do what he loved. But with no eye sight, photography is a crapshoot. If he can’t do what he wanted to do his whole life, then he definitely doesn’t want to be around it, or anything resembling art. Sitting in an art supply store, talking to Zayn about everything but art is the compromise. Whenever Zayn even mentions art or when Liam feels like the conversation is heading in that direction, he shifts gears and starts talking about something completely different, sometimes leaving Zayn a little confused.

Zayn’s caught on from the first time it happened, remembering back when Harry warned him not to speak about art in front of Liam. It’s Zayn’s life though; he’s not entirely sure how he can’t _not_ talk about art, especially when Liam’s his muse for his upcoming pieces.

Turning his head towards Liam, Zayn looks at him with interest as Liam continues to talk. “I was just thinking about maybe taking this thing with us to more official terms.” He blushes and Zayn notes that he really should capture that particular moment on canvas because a blushing Liam is a beautiful Liam.

“Oh, so you were _just_ thinking this?” Zayn smiles, pulling Liam closer and wrapping an arm around his waist. The boy responses with a smile, as the touch of Zayn’s arm around him his settles his nerves a bit. He nods and Zayn continues, “Well, I think earning the right to tell people you’re my boyfriend is kind of a bonus. Does this mean I get to flaunt you and make all the boys jealous?”

Liam snorts, and shakes his head. “You’re something else.”

“Beau, then? Lover? Suitor? Date? Maybe an escort?” Zayn scrunches up his nose at the last one. “Well, maybe not the last one, but I’m definitely something of the boyfriend material.” Liam laughs again, pulling him in for a kiss.

“Let’s just stick with boyfriend.” He whispers between just them, Zayn agreeing with a simple kiss.

“You got it, boyfriend it is. Would you care to stay at my place a bit, boyfriend? I can cook us dinner and we can see what kind of movies are on Netflicks.” Liam doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t have to as he clings to Zayn as he guides them towards his house.

They spend the afternoon laughing over good food and wine. They retreat to the living room where Zayn begins to list off what movies are on, letting Liam pick one before they settle in on the couch. It’s not long into the movie that both boys fall asleep.

+

Niall comes home with dinner in his hand. Harry comes bouncing into the kitchen when he hears his lover enter as he had the early shift. “Hey babe!” he says and Niall gives him a tired smile. Harry’s heart breaks, he knows Niall’s been doing double shift at the restaurant, claiming that it’s for their future restaurant, but this ridiculous. He needs rest. He needs some stress relief. Harry knows just what to do.

“Err, so where’s Liam?” Niall asks, ignoring Harry’s concerned looks, as Louis walks into the kitchen.

“Oh, he’s at Zayn’s, they’re having a night there for once.” Louis says before Harry can speak, digging into the food Niall has brought.

Niall narrows his eyes at this information and he mumbles something about not being hungry before heading to the bedroom and shutting the door. He doesn’t want anyone following him, he just needs a shower and a good night’s sleep and he’ll feel better about this. Maybe he won’t even mind Zayn being in their lives, but he highly doubts it.

He strips down, throwing his clothes in the pile of clothes that needs to be washed before walking into the bathroom and turning on the shower. He’s in there probably five minutes before he hears the door open and Harry scoots in behind him. Niall finishes washing his hair, getting the soap suds out before he backs away from Harry completely, turning around and giving him a cold stare and gets out of the shower. He dries off with the towel and gets dressed.

Harry blinks at this turn of events. What the fuck just happened? He’s hurt; Niall’s never pushed him away like this before. He sighs, washing his hair and body. He might as well do something while he’s in here. When Harry has cleaned and dried himself, he heads into the dark bedroom. Pulling on a pair of boxers, he gets in the bed. He hardly can sleep that night due to the fact he went to bed with Niall’s odd behavior hanging over his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on[ tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks can be found [ here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	10. How did we get to this?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall’s anger comes to a head, and Louis has a battle between his personal life and work. Liam is just a worrier.

Groggy, Harry turns to face the familiar scent of the boy he’s been waking up to for the past eight years. The smile falters on his lips once he realizes the scent’s faded and he blinks his heavy eyes to realize that Niall’s already gone. He’s been gone for a while if the coldness on his side of the bed means anything.

They’ve had fights before, sure. They’ve bickered and challenged one another; they’ve even avoided one another when they were trying to think things through. But never like this, and never for this long. Harry’s beginning to think that there is something seriously wrong and now he thinks that he’s got something to do with it.

Harry undesirably pushes himself out of bed, really wanting to stay under the covers and wallow in his confused state. He takes a shower, washing his hair and body half-heartedly. He drags himself out of the bathroom and grabs some clothes without really paying attention and heads out of the room to the kitchen, getting his regular morning routine underway with breakfast. He’s mildly upset to find Niall isn’t even at the house at all, must have left for work earlier.

Before Harry can finish the bacon, Liam pads to the kitchen, sitting on the bar counter. Harry take comfort in Liam’s presence, even it’s not the _exact_ one he wanted. It’s silent for a few minutes before Liam senses something wrong with him.

“Are you okay?” Liam startles Harry from his cooking, causing him to get burned on the hot grease from the bacon. Harry shouldn’t be surprised; the boys have been together for a while and are so in tuned to one another’s moods, Liam especially. The boys joke that he has this super human power to know people’s emotions. Most of the time it’s cute, but right now Harry’s not even sure what’s going on, so it’s kind of irritating now.

Sucking his thumb, he doesn’t respond to Liam right away. “Uh, yeah, it’s just…there’s something up with Niall.” He goes back to finish cooking the eggs, gathering plates for him and the rest of the boys.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay.” Liam tries to comfort him; Harry however, doesn’t think it’s that easy. Niall won’t even talk to _him_ , so it must be pretty bad.

When Harry slides a plate of bacon and eggs to Liam, the older male reaches out a hand and rests it on Harry’s. He pulls him into a hug and Harry leans into Liam, feeling his resolve falter as tears sting his eyes. He pulls away and wipes his eyes before Louis comes in practically bouncing, but stops momentarily when he sees Harry and Liam.

“Breakfast is on the bar.” He nods to the plate already fixed and takes the bacon off of his own plate to eat on the way to work. “You can share my eggs with Liam.” Harry grabs his keys to the house and is gone before Louis can say a word.

Harry thoughts race while he walks to the art store. He’s not entirely sure how he’s going to get Niall to open up to him, but something’s got to give, they can’t keep on living like this. Harry’s miserable, and he’s definitely sure Niall’s miserable.

When he comes into the store, throwing his keys on the counter, breaking Zayn’s concentration on some sort of sketch he’s doing. “Sorry.” Harry mumbles, going into the back to put his coat up on the hanger before coming out to join him.

“You alright?” Zayn asks, looking at Harry when he settles down beside him. Harry’s only response is to nod.

“Yeah, I’m good, just some stuff at home,” he nods at the sketch. “What cha working on?” he asks, desperate to change the subject.

“Mm, just something to keep my muse up,” Zayn leans his sketchpad so Harry can see and Harry smiles at the familiar smile of Liam staring back at him. He knew that Zayn and Liam were getting closer, but the drawing was clearly a assertion of Zayn’s admiration of Liam.

“How are you guys doing anyways?” He smiles, grateful that Zayn affectively changed the subject with him without questioning it. Zayn’s lips spread into the biggest smile Harry’s ever seen. Harry can guess things are going rather well with the way Zayn’s demeanor changes with the mere mention of Liam.

Zayn takes another admiring look at the sketch before closing the pad and looking back at Harry. “We’re amazing.” Harry nods, smiling at him. At least someone was amazing, with that thought, Harry’s stomach drops.

The good thing is that a little while after that, the store had pretty steady business, allowing Harry to forget his problems at home for a little while. When they finally close up shop, Harry’s restocking the pant section when he remembers. “Coming over tonight?”

Zayn is closing up the cash register, putting the cash in a bag to drop and dropping in the bag in the safe. “Yeah, Liam said something about game night.”

Harry nods, looking back at him. “Yeah, we play cards and board games. Liam’s the best at monopoly but I’m the best at poker. Be prepared to loose, big time.”

Laughing, Zayn shakes his head. “We’ll just see about that one.” He grabs the keys and nods, “Ready to go?” Harry huffs out a breathe, and with one last look at the paint, he nods, grabbing his own keys and heading out the door, Zayn closing it behind them and locking it.

Zayn and Harry rib one another the whole way home, declaring that they’re the best in certain games than the other, while the other states that they are in fact the best. Both of them are greeted by Liam in the kitchen when they get in the door. Zayn walking over and planting a small kiss on Liam’s cheek as he steals a cheese puff from the bowl he’s dumped the bag into.

“Hey hey, wait until the games begin.” He laughs, sneaking a proper kiss from Zayn that makes Harry’s stomach twist. “Niall joining us tonight?” Liam directs his question to Harry.

Harry shrugs; not missing the look Zayn gives him, “I’m not sure.” He takes a bag of potato chips and opens the bag, emptying the contents out of into the bowl Liam already set out for them. They have pretzels, and can drinks galore, even some beers for later, as Louis validates moments later when he comes in the kitchen energetically with an arm full of beer bottles to put in the refrigerator.

“Hey boys, ready to get your ass kicked?” Zayn, Liam, and Harry both scoff and laugh.

Harry grabs a beer from Louis arm, opening it and taking a huge swallow. “If you mean getting your ass kicked by me, then yes, I’m ready.” Louis shakes his head, grabbing a few pretzels.

“Well, let’s get this starts, Niall can join when he gets off work.” Louis calls back as he chomps on the pretzels, walking into the dining room, where Zayn discovers they have more refreshments and a stack of games waiting in the corner.

The boys settle around the table as Louis takes it upon himself to pick the first game, apparently a tradition because a fight will ensue over it if he doesn’t. As the night goes on, Zayn has to start playing referee between Harry and Louis as they become competitive. He also has to watch them from cheating, all the while Liam laughing at how ridiculous this all is.

The boys are in a fit of hysteria, partly because Louis has been caught cheating at Uno, and partly because they’ll all full of alcohol when Niall comes in from his shift at the restaurant. When Niall heads into the dining room, Harry stiffens. He’s still got that grim look on his face and it’s even harder to read now that he’s seen the boys playing games.

“Hey! Nialler! I need someone to back me up here!” Louis suddenly shouts, but Niall shakes his head and heads to straight to the room without saying a word. Harry doesn’t go after him this time. He’s kind of upset with him for how Niall’s treated him the past couple of days, but Zayn and Harry share a meaningful look as Louis frowns at the obvious dismissal. But like in true Louis fashion, however, the dismissal doesn’t bring him down as he continues the argument from before that he wasn’t in fact cheating when he pulled an extra wild out of his lap (Harry being the one that seen him).

It’s two in the morning before things settle down and Liam yawns from his place at Zayn’s side, cuddled in tightly. “It’s late, Zayn you should stay. Don’t want you walking home this late at night by yourself.”

Louis arches an eyebrow at Zayn, and he doesn’t miss the encouraging look Harry gives him. “Uh, sure.”

“Great, you can take the couch.” Louis chimes in, “I’ll get the bedding.” He’s quick to leave the table as Liam smiles. Harry’s already shuffling towards his own bedroom with a ‘night’ mumbled somewhere in there.

Zayn kisses the top of Liam’s head and smiles at the boy brightens up at the gesture. “Let’s get some sleep.” When they head into the living room, Louis is lingering by the couch, apparently waiting for them to come in. There’s an awkward pause before Zayn realizes what Louis’ doing. He kisses Liam goodnight, making sure his hand lingers just a bit longer on his waist than normal. He pulls back with a satisfying smirk when Louis’s is furrowing his eyebrows at him. “Sweet dreams.” He murmurs against Liam’s lips before Liam saunters into his room and closes the door.

“Welp, good night!” Louis calls when Zayn’s making himself comfortable on the couch, prancing back to his bedroom. Zayn chuckles at Louis before shaking his head before he lies down. The blankets and pillows must have come from Liam’s room because it smells of him. It doesn’t take long for him to fall asleep then.

-

Niall wakes up the next morning with Harry slightly curled around him. He has to move carefully not to wake him up. He needs to get up to go to work this morning. He yawns, stretching and scratching his back when he’s free of tangled limbs and standing beside the bed. Niall gets dressed rather quickly, he’s become an expert at sneaking out of the room without waking Harry up.

His stomach grumbles at him, he misses dinner last night because he wanted no part in game night while Zayn was there. He strolls into the kitchen to find Zayn with Liam, huddled against each other as they seem to sharing the world’s secrets with one another. It’s then that Niall realizes that Zayn much have stayed the night last night, seeing as Zayn’s still in his clothes from the night before.

He clinches his fists at the thought of Zayn and Liam sleeping in the same bed together. This is much more serious than he originally thought. Furious, Niall bypasses the two unbearably close lovers and heads straight out the door, grabbing his keys on the way, without any breakfast. Liam and Zayn, being in their own little world didn’t even realize there had been another person in the room until they heard the front door slam.

+

Louis runs a hand over his face as he yet again deletes the first line of the synopses of a case report that’s due to his boss by the end of the day. He can’t concentrate on the case at hand when his mind is wondering to another case he’s going to be with later that day; Aiden’s.

It’s when he has deleted the line for the fifth time that his boss calls him into his office. Louis and Peter get along rather well, especially because Louis is probably the best case worker he’s got. So usually when Peter calls him into the office, it’s to give him another case that someone can’t seem to break.

“What’s up bossman?” Louis smiles at the middle-aged balding man as he plops down in the chair across from his desk where Peter was sitting.

“Is there something we need to discuss?” Peter raises an eyebrow at him, but all Louis can do is return his gaze with a confused expression.

“What? Not that I know of.” He can’t think of anything he needs to tell Peter. Nothing out of the ordinary in any of his cases, he’s not been slacking on them either, so he’s not sure what the problem is.

“I hear you’re involved with one of your cases parents.” Louis tries to remain cool; he really hasn’t done anything wrong, at least not yet. Involved means actually crossing the line, and he hasn’t crossed that line, he’s BARELY even touching it. He understands if he gets involved with Ryan it could cause him to loose Aiden’s case for good, he’s been around long enough in this business to see that happen. But he’s never told anyone about what might be happening with him and Ryan beside the boys and they don’t talk to anyone at his work.

Louis crosses his legs and cocks and eyebrow at Pete. “What have I told you about gossiping by the water cooler?” His features are relaxed, but inside he’s screaming out himself for letting it get this far.

Peter rubs his face, “Need I remind you of the rules?” he sighs, shaking his head, “Just be careful, Lou. Either hand the case over to someone else or close it before you go any further. People talk.”

Gravely nodding, Louis leaves the office, walking past his own and locking himself in the bathroom to have a moment to self. He paces back and forth, running his hand through his hair, effectively messing it up. Just shit.

+

Niall is busy scouring pots and pans when Harry gets into work. He doesn’t say a word when Harry gets his apron. They quietly move around kitchen the rest of the afternoon, off kilter as they bump into one another and get in each other’s way. Normally they are so attuned to one another that they can flow freely, knowing what the other is going to do before they do it. Everything is so off balance with them lately, it affects every little thing, even their work life.

It’s a lull in orders, that time between lunch and dinner where the kitchen staff are getting ready for dinner and cleaning up the mess left from lunch, when the silence from Niall becomes too much for Harry. “What’s going on Niall?”

Niall doesn’t turn to face him, but at least he answers, “What do you mean?”

This frustrates Harry, he knows Niall knows exactly what he means, and he’s just choosing to play dumb. Harry gives in though, he always does, not being able to handle Niall like this a moment longer, he needs to sort this out before it becomes detrimental for their relationship. “You’re so distant lately and you don’t spend as much time with and the guys anymore!”

Visibly tensing, Niall has had about enough of all this. He grips the counter to keep himself grounded though. To him, Harry sounds like a two year old child that’s throwing a fit because he’s not getting his way.

“NIALL!” Harry whines, trying to get his attention.

Niall slams his hand down, a little harder than he wanted and spins around.to look at Harry. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been working! Working for OUR future!” he breathes hard and heavy, his face is red from shouting, but the look on Harry’s face doesn’t give him satisfaction like he thought it would. In fact, it hurts because he’s hurting Harry. The younger boys face crumbles and he leaves but not before Niall sees the tears fall down his cheeks. Niall throws a dish towel on the counter, causing a loud banging sound as pots rattle.

+

Louis’ mind is racing. Ever since the talk he had with Peter, he’s not been able to get Ryan out of his head. He knows that he’s become rather attached to Aiden, he feels like a parent of sorts. But he has a professional responsibility, not only for his job but for Aiden as well. Aiden needs help going through the trauma of losing a mother at a very young age. Louis is supposed to be that, but if he just closes the case or hands if off to another person, will Aiden get what he needs, what he deserves?

He wouldn’t mind Ryan making the first move, but he knows it could come back to bite him in the ass. First and foremost, he needs to think of Aiden. Could he continue to help him even if he and Ryan started dating? Most likely, it meant that it would be his job now, but it’s been awhile since he’s felt that way about Aiden’s case. He’s so much more to him now than just a case.

Taking Aiden home after practice, they stop through a drive thru before Louis drops him home. When he pulls into the driveway to see Ryan’s car already there, he can’t help the smile on his face. He walks in with Aiden as he the eight year old runs to turn on his Xbox to play a game before he sits down to eat his food.

Louis finds Ryan in the kitchen. “Hey, brought some food. Thought you might be hungry.” He smiles, placing the bag full of food down on the counter. Ryan turns and gives him a smile, the one that melts Louis’ heart.

“Thanks.” He smiles, walking over to where Louis was to grab the bag. Their hands touch, and Louis must imagine this, but Ryan gives him a small squeeze. Louis’ eyes look into brown and before he knows it, he’s frozen in one place.

Aiden’s game can be heard in the distance, but Louis heart seems to be trying to beat out of his chest as he watches Ryan lean in. _ohgodohgod_. Before Louis can take another deep breathe, Ryan’s lips are brushing against his. Louis is surprised, but responds, pushing closer to him after he feels Ryan’s hand move to his face. When Ryan pulls away, much too soon for Louis’ liking, he can feel fingertips stroking his cheek. The moment their eyes meet once again, Louis knows he’s in deep shit. “I have to go.” Ryan doesn’t say anything, just nods, and lets him go, stepping away from him.

Louis says a quick goodbye to Aiden and is out the door and in his car in two seconds flat. He doesn’t know how he gets home because he can’t remember the ride. He’s upset and he needs to talk to someone. Luckily, Liam is home when he gets there.

Leaning against the doorframe of the Liam’s room, Louis stands there quietly as he watches Liam make his bed in silence. Liam shakes his head, “What’s happened Louis?” he knows Louis all too well. If he’s hovering, he upset about something. And he can smell Louis cologne, so he knows it’s him at the door.

He takes a breath, “So he kissed me… and I backed away.” He’s got Liam’s attention now, as he whips around to Louis’ direction.

“You did what?”

Louis groans, running a hand over his face as he trudges to Liam’s bed and plops down like an over exaggerate teenage girl. “I don’t know! I just panicked!”

Liam chuckles and shakes his head, joining Louis on his neatly made bed. “He must be something special.” Louis sighs, rolling over on his side. “You should go for it!” Liam seems rather enthused, and Louis has to chuckle at that.

He’s always been a bit of a romantic, regardless of the many broken hearts he’s acquired over the years. “Yeah,” Louis gulps audibly and nods, “Yeah…” he calms down after a minute of Liam running fingers through his hair. “So how are you and Zayn?”

It’s Liam’s turn to fidget. “To tell you the truth, I’m ready for some intimacy. We make out, but not much else.” There is a pause before he adds: “Is there something wrong with me?” he anxiously fiddles with his duvet.

Louis pulls him into a hug and chuckles lightly. “You’re prefect dear, he’s just awkward. I’m afraid you’re gonna have to take things into your own hands…if you want it.”  

Zayn does seem a little afraid to take their relationship to the next level, probably because he thinks that he’s taking advantage of Liam. Liam’s all but said it aloud that he wants to be intimate with him. Hands teasing and tugging on clothes when their making out, Liam’s all but stripped in front of him and wore a sign.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll have to take initiative. “ Liam murmurs, almost to himself. Louis smiles pulling himself up and as he walks out the door, he pats Liam on the bum, leaving the younger boy to his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumbler: [ziaminmypants](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks: [thecharacterasks.tumblr.com](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com/)


	11. Baby Come Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall plans to make up with Harry and Zayn and Liam get closer. Louis is dealing with his own problems.

Niall isn’t himself. He hasn’t been himself in a long while. He’s snapping at everyone, he snapped at Harry the other day at work and he’s felt terrible about it ever since then. Harry’s barely even looked at him and it’s never been this bad between them. Niall’s even came home to find Harry not even sleeping in their bed. He’s found out, after he’s worried about for two nights straight with no sleep, that Harry’s been sleeping in Liam’s room.

He’s got to do something before his whole love life goes up in flames, but he’s not exactly sure how to fix it. Niall’s tried talking to him, but Harry’s not having any of it. If he doesn’t get his Harry back soon, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. Harry is his support, his pillar, and without him, Niall’s crumbling, and fast.

Blinking up at the ceiling, Niall rubs his hand over his face. This is ridiculous. He can’t take another like this one. No Harry, equals no sleep and it’s not improving his mood. He turns, facing Harry’s side of the bed and drawing the pillow he uses to his face. It doesn’t have a strong the strong scent of Harry anymore, and a tear rolls down Niall’s cheek. He can’t live like this much longer.

Harry bites his lip and leans further into Liam's space. He hasn't been sleeping well without Niall by his side, but he doesn't feel like he can just sweep this under the rug. Tears fill his eyes and roll down drawn cheeks. Rubbing his face against Liam's back, he slides closer to the blind man.

Turning around when he feels Harry rubbing his face against his back, Liam feels around before sliding an arm around Harry to bring him closer. “Harry, why aren’t you asleep?” its then that he feels the wetness of the younger males cheeks. He frowns, arms closing around the boy tighter. “Shhh…” he tries to sooth him, petting his curls.

"I'm sorry" the younger boy mumbles. "This is just so hard. I don't even know why we're fighting." Harry buries his face in Liam's chest, quietly sobbing at what feels like the loss of half himself.

Liam frowns once more, pressing the boy closer. He feels very protective over all the lads, but especially Harry. “He’s just been under a lot of pressure and everything built up to this. Let it blow over, everything will be fine and you can go back to planning that wedding I know you’ve been secretly planning for years.” He tries lightening the mood, but he’s not sure it will work. He knows how dependent both Harry and Niall are with one another, it’s only a matter of time before one of the crashes, and he’s taking bets it’ll be Niall.

Harry finally slips into an exhausted sleep, Liam's words trailing after him.

Louis is in the kitchen when the rest of the house decides to wake up. He fixes the standard tea and worries a lip, wanting to step in and throttle both Harry and Niall. Snorting, he says as much to Liam as he shuffles to the table.

Liam yawns, not getting much sleep due to Harry constantly wanting to be underneath him the whole night. “Louis…they’ll sort it out themselves. We can’t interfere.” He whispers, not exactly sure where either one of the boys are. He can hear Harry in the bedroom, but he’s pretty sure Niall’s already left for the day.

The older boy runs his hands over the brunet’s shoulder, soothing the tense muscles. "I know" he answers, face scrunching. "Doesn't mean I have to like it." He continues kneading Liam's shoulders and back until he's relaxed. "So when's Zayn stopping by?"

Brightening at the mention of Zayn, Liam’s smile is back in full force. “Later, so hopefully they’ve made up by then.” He grumbles at this, he knows it will take a miracle for the two boys to get back to their normal selves before tonight. Maybe he can push Niall in the right direction…but then he’d be getting involved and he needs to take his own advice.

Louis shakes his head at Liam's excited look, muttering a "down boy" as he texts Ryan.

“Is that Ryan?” Liam smirks, taking a sip of his tea. “Tell him that you fancy him yet? You know since you ran out on him after he tried to snog you.”

Rolling his eyes hard enough for Liam to FEEL, he flicks the blind man on the neck. "None of your sass now, or I'll be telling embarrassing stories to YOUR lover boy."

“I believe you’ve already tried that…” shaking his head, giving Louis a warm smile anyways.

Harry finally emerges an hour or so later. By that time, Louis has already gone off to work for the day and Liam's hanging out in the living room, waiting for Zayn to make an appearance.

“Feeling any better?” Liam asks from his place on the couch, he’s worried about Harry, he’s not seen the boys fighting this bad in the years that he’s known them.

Sighing softly, the younger boy doesn't bother answering. Instead, he settles on the couch to wait with Liam. They listen to whatever random DVD the older brunet had put in.

Zayn hums to himself on his way up the drive. He readjusts his tipping hat and knocks on the familiar door.

Frowning, the knock on the door interrupts what he’s about to say to Harry. Liam moves to get up, tracing the wall with his fingertips as he opens the door. He can smell Zayn before the boy speaks and he smiles. “Hey.” He says sheepishly as he moves to let Zayn in.

The darker boy grins and returns the greeting, leaning in to kiss Liam's cheek on his way inside. "We still on for today?"

Liam hesitates in answering, knowing that Harry can hear them. He reaches out to touch Zayn, moving his hand in the air until he feels Zayn’s arm. “Yeah, we are, just… be really careful mentioning Niall to Harry, okay?” he frowns again, letting Zayn lead him back to the living room. “Look Harry, Zayn’s here.” Liam tries to brighten the brunet’s mood a little.

Harry gives the new arrival a lack-luster smile and a small "hey". Zayn makes sure Liam's settled on the couch before brushing a hand through the younger boy's curls. "You know what we need?" He stands straight and places his hands on his hips. "A good RomCom and LOTS of popcorn." There's a smile on his lips as he walks jauntily to the kitchen to fix some popcorn. "Go ahead and pick a movie, Liam!" he calls back.

Grateful that Zayn’s here, Liam hopes that his presence will help Harry get out of whatever funk he’s in. He moves when Zayn asks him to pick a movie. “Wanna pick the movie Harry?” Liam offers.

Slumped in a corner of the couch, pillow clutched to his chest like a safety blanket, Harry shakes his head no. He's pale and there are bags under his eyes. Zayn's singing along to the low-playing radio in the kitchen as the microwave runs for the popcorn.

Liam sighs, with Harry’s silence, he can’t tell wants going on and it’s scaring him. He wants to cry as he pushes himself off the couch. Fingers fumble along the shelves but he can concentrate on the titles across his fingertips as tears sting his eyes.

Zayn comes in juggling a large bowl of popcorn and three bottles of water. He sits his goods down on the coffee table and wraps his arms around Liam from behind. "It's ok, love" he murmurs in the other's ear. "How about you settle on the couch again and I'll pick something at random. Anything you absolutely hate?"

Melting into Zayn’s touch, he clutches the boys shirt a bit before turning around. He shakes his head no, and smiles through watery tears before moving to sit on the couch. He wipes his face before leaning against the other end of the couch, trying to pull himself in a tiny ball of Liam.

Practically aching at both boys angsting on the couch, the darker boy picks a movie without looking at the title and places it in the player before making his way back to the couch. He settles in the middle, hand resting on Liam's thigh as the movie starts. Zayn rubs his fingers across the brunet's thigh, drawing random patterns until he can feel Liam relax.

Liam leans closer to Zayn, almost all but forgetting that Harry is causing him so much distress at the feeling of Zayn’s fingers on him. He rests his head against the raven-haired shoulder, listening to the movie that Zayn’s picked out.

Zayn settles, leaning closer to his lover while chuckling at the antics of the characters on the screen. He looks over to discover Harry drowsing wearily on his end. He whispers as much to Liam, joining their hands and bring the brunet's hand up to kiss.

Smiling, Liam leans his head up to hear Harry’s soft breathing. He doesn’t say anything, but let’s Zayn kiss his hand. He settles his head back on Zayn’s shoulder as he tries to enjoy the rest of the movie.

Yawning for the 5th time, Zayn finally leans forward to stop the movie. "I don't know about you" he says to Liam, keeping his voice down for Harry. "But listening to him sleep is making ME sleepy." He chuckles and tugs the slighter man off the couch. "Fancy a lie-down?"

A blush forms around the base of Liam’s neck and travels up to his cheeks as Liam thinks about Zayn and him in the same bed, but he quickly recovers, nodding his head. “Yeah,” he smiles; hopefully he’ll get Zayn from second base to third base.

Slipping a blanket over the sleeping boy, they slip off to Liam's room.

+

Niall is crashing around in the kitchen, throwing used pots in the sink and barking orders at people. He’s tired and sleepy and he’s got a lot on his mind. The good news is he’s coming up with ideas on how he can make it up to Harry. He knows he’s been a horrible boyfriend. He needs to learn to smother his feelings for Zayn away and learn to separate them from his relationship. It’s not Harry’s fault that Niall has a problem with the boy.

One of the bus boys decides it's a good idea to snark at Niall, not aware of the Irishman's temper.

Practically throwing hot soup on him, Niall yells until the owner has to come in to calm him down. He’s so wound up that he’s made to go home and rest. Niall throws his apron against the door as he walks out, heading in the opposite direction of home.

He stops by to get some carnations, Harry’s favorite, and while this isn’t what he had in mind, he needs something to break the ice. It’s then that hits him what he needs to do. He chuckles to himself as he hands the man the money for the flowers and heads out the door, practically skipping home.

+

Louis comes in and shuts the door semi-loud, harshly muttering about traffic. He winces when he realizes he's just woken Harry up. "Oh crap, I'm sorry Har, I didn't know you were napping on the couch. Want some tea?"

The curly brunet rubs his tired eyes and nods at the taller boy, trailing him into the kitchen.

Louis bustles around, prepping the tea. "Anyone else home?" he asks, reaching in the cabinet for cookies to go with the tea.

Resting his chin in his hand, the younger boy tells him that Liam and Zayn are around. The older brunet brushes a hand across Harry's back as he passes, headed to the blind man's room. "Hey!" A sharp knock follows. "Stop the lewd activities and tell me if you want tea and cookies!"

Liam blushes at Louis’ words, burring his head in the pillow and mumbling a reply that could be considered an insult if it were coherent enough.

The brunet waits impatiently outside the door for an answer. Zayn chuckles at Liam as he calls back "No, we're good!"

Rolling his eyes and mumbling about certain blind brunets and their dark haired lover, Louis returns to the kitchen to finish the tea and feed a still slow moving Harry.

Pulling his head up, Liam sighs, “He gone?” he whispers against Zayn’s skin.

Zayn shifts until he has one arm under Liam while the other drapes around enough that the darker boy can shift his fingers through his love's hair. "I think so, but you're the one with the bat hearing." A smile graces his face.

Chuckling, Liam blushes once again. “Yeah well you’ll need to help me if he moves the ottoman again.” He leans to kiss the skin of Zayn’s jawline lightly, sliding fingertips across the man’s collarbone as he does so.

The older boy allows this, but won't let them go much further. He wants their first to be special; so he hugs the other man to his chest and kisses him lazily.

Liam sighs at the change it demeanor, but he doesn’t push any further. He kisses him slowly, fingers clutching Zayn’s shirt as he tries to deepen the kiss.

Brushing the hair from Liam's face, his boyfriend whispers to him, "Soon, love, it's not that I don't want it, it's just...I want it to be special." Zayn tenses, hoping he's not about to be laughed at.

He doesn’t respond at first, but after a moment, Liam nods, leaning up and kissing the boy lightly. He doesn’t want to push his chances, but it’s getting to the point where he’s going to have some serious medical problems if he doesn’t take this a step further.

-

Niall has all that he needs: the carnations, his iPhone, and the music downloaded. He really hopes that this idea works, and he’s about ninety percent sure it will – which is good odds as any. He’s careful when he reaches the house, trying to hide from view as he waits patiently for Harry to head to the bathroom for his nightly shower. He’s hoping that Harry doesn’t skip it tonight because his whole plan rides on that.

He’s already got his trench coat on, all part of the idea. Niall licks his lips and perches outside the house, next to the fence that’s between their neighbor’s house and the boy’s yard – it’s dark enough there so the boys can’t see him, or at least he hopes, from the windows. There he waits until he sees the light on in the bathroom pop on. It’s time to make his move.

Creeping into the house, he’s careful not to make a noise, knowing Liam would probably be the only one to hear him, he’s not completely worried about the blind man blowing his cover. As he tip toes past Louis room and opens the door to his and Harry’s bedroom, he hears the shower running. With a little smirk, he quickly raises up the windows of the bedroom and grabs the speakers on the desk that go to his IPhone.

He giggles to himself before maneuvering himself back out of the room, and back out the house. Niall makes quick work of the speakers, plugging them in his phone and thumbing through his music to find the song. He sits on the picnic table that the boys have places in the yard as he waits yet again until he’s sure Harrys out of the bathroom.

Harry comes out of the bathroom with one towel barely hanging on around his hips and another scrubbing over his hair. He quickly dresses, shivering, but not noticing the open window.

Fidgeting beneath the window, Niall’s face perks up when he sees movement in the bedroom. He giddily presses play on the phone, holding up the speakers in each hand towards the windows of their bedroom, the music starts to play.

 _“Spending all my nights  
All my money going out on the town_ __  
Doing anything just to get you off of my mind  
But when the morning comes  
I'm right back where I started again  
Trying to forget you is just a waste of time”

Niall’s blue’s eyes search the windows for a sign that Harry can actually hear it. The neighborhood dogs are starting to bark so he knows that Harry’s got to hear.

 _“Baby come back, any kind of fool could see_ __  
There was something in everything about you  
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me  
I was wrong, and I just can't live without you”

Hearing music coming from right outside his window, the younger man, confused on just how it got opened, steps forward and leans out. He's very surprised to see Niall standing there in a trench coat, I-pod held above his head. Something melts in his chest and he realizes they're going to be ok. He laughs happily down to his lover, smiling at the blond. Turning, he rushes down to meet him.

Louis sets his phone down on his bedside table again before raising a brow at the lyrics being belted out by a familiar Irish voice. An idea strikes him as he moves to the hallway closet for the mop heads. Quickly dousing it in water, insuring that it's soaking, he nudges his own window up and calls out "Too mushy!" He takes aim and firing. Cackling as he watches it soar through the air as if in slow motion before landing solidly on the blond's head.

Harry's just made it out the door when he faintly hears Louis and sees something hit Niall on the head. He's startled to realize it's a wet mop head.

Liam shifts in the bed and smiles as he hears the commotion from his window. “Well, things should be back to normal now.” He whispers against Zayn’s skin.

Zayn's about to respond when they both hear Louis shouting and a sudden splat of something wet hitting something solid. "I...don't think I want to know, actually."

Niall sputters, trying to wipe the water from his face as he puts his phone and speakers down. He’s not about to let Louis ruin it, he’s already had to replace three phones this year for Harry. After the sputtering, he looks up to see Harry at the door. The music suddenly drops to the background as blue eyes look at green hopeful.

Niall's lover pauses for a split second before joining his lover, wiping as best he can before pulling him into a frantic kiss.

Arms fling around Harry, pulling him to press against him. He kisses him with just as much urgency before planting kisses all over Harry’s face. “I. love. You. I’m. so. Sorry. Baby.” He punctuates each word with a kiss. His hands then find Harry’s cheeks, cupping them before pulling back to look him in the eye. “I never meant to hurt you. I just want to give you everything and I’m trying so hard…Everything just got really crazy…” he sighs, tears swelling in his eyes.

Harry's brushing at his own tears, taking a moment to get ahold of himself. He shushes his lover. "I'm sorry too. I just...it got so far and I didn't see a way out." Pressing his face back into Niall's chest, Harry holds onto his lover tightly.

Niall smiles, kissing the top of Harry’s curls before pulling away, his hand dropping to hold onto his wirst. He moves to get the speakers and phone and nudges his lover back inside. He waits all of ten seconds after putting the things in his arms down to press Harry against the wall, kissing him feverishly. He’s missed being close to him, feeling him against him. He slides his hand in Harry’s before sliding it up the wall, pressing him there.

There's a loud knocking at the front door. It sounds urgent.  Harry looks first to Niall, then down the hall. Sighing, he drags the blond to the door and opens it. "Yes?"

There's a uniformed officer standing with his hand still raised to knock. The man clears his throat. "We've received a call about a suspicious figure wearing a trench coat and sneaking about the property." As he says this, his eyes fall to the blond standing next to Harry.

Niall steps a little further behind Harry and smiles. “Uh, nope, nothing like that. Must have been a prank or something.”

The officer eyes both boys before nodding. "All right, but if there's any trouble, just call it in." He nods good night to them before heading back to his cruiser. Louis's loud laughter can be heard deeper in the home.

Flexing his fist he really wants to go punch Louis in the face, but when he looks at Harry, that plan dissipates. Instead, he moves to pull the brunet closer to him. “Let’s have sex against Louis bedroom door.” He whispers in Harry’s hear before licking it seductively.

The younger man sputters a moment before finally requesting another form of revenge. "Since it's not your back that's going to be connecting with a hard object, I veto that plan and instead choose my own. Which consists of you fucking me so hard our bed rattles his wall instead." Harry bats his lashes in an innocent manner.

While he’d rather lock Louis in his room while he pounds into Harry against his door, Niall’s not about to pass this opportunity up either. He smirks, tugging the curly-haired boy with him to the bedroom, closing the door with his foot. His attention turns back to his lover, licking his lips. “I’ve missed you…so…so…much.”

Harry licks his lips before stripping his clothes back off. "I've missed you too, baby." It's said quietly, but is filled with loud emotion.

Moving to the naked boy in front of him, his hands are everywhere; making sure Harry’s skin feels just the same way he’s left it. His lips connect to the younger boys as he slides his hand around his waist to pull him closer.

The brunet goes willing, pulling on his lover's clothes as he does so. "Feels like forever" he whispers.

“T’was.” He blurs his words together as he presses his lips once more against Harry’s lips before moving them to his skin, kissing across his jawline and down his neck. He sucks lightly as his hands find Harry’s ass, squeezing it.

Moaning into the kiss, Harry's fingers grip tight to the blond. "Don't ever leave me again" he implores, eyes wide.

“Never.” Niall confirms, moving them to the bed as he lays Harry back before crawling on top of his lover, kissing his way up his body. “I can’t function without out you love.” He whispers; hot breathe fanning across bare skin. Fingers dance along his chest and abs, only to come back up to flick a nipple.

The young lover arches into the touch, moaning and body eager for more. "Don't tease me, love. Please, I just wanna have you inside me." He beseeches his lover.

Niall kisses him quickly in understanding, pulling away to strip himself of his trench coat, and other clothing. He stands before Harry naked only for a moment before crawling back over top of him to press their bodies against one another. The feeling alone of having Harry’s skin against his own causes a groan to escape his ears. It’s been way too long.

Throwing open his legs, the brunet cradles Niall against him, almost not believing that they're here together, like this. "Niall" he breathes his lovers name with reverence.

He answers by pushing his erection against Harry’s, lips memorizing the path to Harry’s lips once more from different areas of his body. Niall can’t take much more before he moves to grab the lube from the bedside table, sitting back on his haunches. He fumbles with it a little before opening the top, looking down at Harry lovingly. “Want a little prep?” he asks, coating his fingers with some lube.

Nodding with a smile dancing across his lips, Harry opens himself further to Niall. His lover is the only man he can ever be this weak for.

Returning Harry’s smile, Niall bends down to press his lips to Harry’s as he slips a finger in. He takes his time preparing his lover, crooking his finger just right before sliding it out to put a second finger inside him. This process is slow and loving, Niall making sure that Harry can feel just how much he loves him with each tender touch.

The brunet relaxes into Niall's touch, reveling in the feel of being with his lover again. Eventually he squirms with a chuckle. "So ready for you, love."

Without any hesitation, Niall pulls his fingers out, wiping them on the sheet before scooting up to kiss Harry while he coats his cock with more lube. Once he thinks he’s coated it thoroughly, he throws the bottom of lube on the floor and moves to push himself in slowly.

Moans fill the room as Niall fills his lover. Harry wraps long legs around the Irishman's waist and pulls him down for a kiss.

Once he bottoms out, Niall stops to let him get used to the stretch once more before moving. Instead, he pays special attention to Harry’s lips, licking the bottom and pushing his tongue in between the lips to gain access inside, where he plays for dominance. As he does this, Niall begins to slowly slide himself out.

Harry's hands tighten on the blond's shoulders. "Niall!" he groans as he feels his lover slipping out of him slowly. Whining, Harry tries to urge him to go faster.

Niall smirks at his lover as he pushes himself back in, unable to stay away from the feeling of being buried deep within Harry for too long. He thrusts inside him as he moves his mouth to Harry’s jawline, then his neck, causing blooming red marks to appear after each mark left by his mouth. He licks them for good measure as he continues to mark his lover.

The younger man leans his head to the side, letting Niall mark him further. "Missed you so bad" he murmurs, hands traveling randomly. Harry touches wherever he can reach, marveling that Niall's still there with him.

Smiling at Harry against his skin, he kisses up to his lips, his hands fumbling to find Harrys. Once he found them, he pulls them up, intertwining them together and pinning them to the bed as he lifts himself up to watch his dick disappear into Harry. He groans, “Fuck, I’ve missed you too.”

Pushing back into the thrusts as best he can, the brunet moans in a fever pitch. "More" he begs.

Niall grunts, pulling his hands away from Harry’s, tucking them under Harry’s waist, rucking his hips up to change the position a little so he can slide in a little deeper. He picks up his pace too, groaning at the vision of Harry all wanton and spread out for him on the bed. His hips shudder at the scene before getting back to his pace.

Harry relaxes into the thrusting, not bothering to muffle his noises. His cries of "harder" and "faster" get louder, soon becoming a wail with his cries of pleasure as Niall concedes to his requests.

“So beautiful…” he breathes, pounding into Harry hard enough to make the headboard rattle against the wall. He then remembers Louis and smirks, making sure he deepens his thrust and hisses in pleasure as Harry clinches around him. He’s groaning loudly, Harry’s name on his tongue.

The brunet's keening moans soon turn into a battle-cry of passion. It's possible that Louis may or may not be swearing loudly in the other room. Harry's so close to losing it.

He knows that Harry’s close, but he doesn’t dare move his hands away from Harry’s bum afraid he’ll lose the momentum he’s built up. “Gonna cum for me love? Just like this?”

"Yes! Yes!" comes the answering shout. Sweat gleams all over the lean body, writhing and moaning.

“Wanna see you fall apart, wanna see you cum. So pretty,” Niall is basically fumbling sentences out as he thrusts harder into Harry, trying to get him to do exactly what he wants him to do. His fingers dig into Harry’s hip as he pushes in.

With the loudest shout leaving his parted lips, the young lover cums long and hard, streaks of white spidering across his vision. Feeling like his senses are fried, Harry relaxes into his lover's still deep thrusts.

The clinching does it for Niall, thrusting into him not a few moments later, coating Harry’s insides with his own cum. He groans, falling on his lover as his eyes close and his breathing hitches, thrusting into the boy as he rides out his high.

Harry groans and feels his body tingle as he's filled with cum. "Love you" he tells the blond longingly.

Niall smiles against his position of him lying on top of him, face buried in the crook of his neck. “Love you more.” He breathes, kissing his lovers hot skin.

Sinking into the bed, accepting his lover's weight pinning him to it, the brunet hums happily, already drifting off to sleep. Louis bemoans loudly for a few more minutes before becoming quiet himself.

Niall doesn’t bother pulling out until he hears Harry’s soft breathes. He then moves carefully, pulling the covers over both of their sheen of sweat bodies before throwing an arm around Harry’s chest and falling fast asleep beside his lover.

+

Liam is woken in the morning, not by Louis’ jumping on him in bed, but of his natural accord. He’s almost forgotten where he is until a hand brushes against a warm body. He smiles, pulling himself closer, his senses submerging into everything that is Zayn. He briefly forgets he’s got to pee as he plants small kisses to the boys jawline. But before he can get any further, his bladder calls urgently.

Careful not to wake Zayn, Liam slides out of his bed, walking lightly to the bathroom, before shutting the door. He pads his way to the toilet. After taking a leak and washing his hands, Liam opens the door slightly, slipping out and heading back to bed to wrap himself around his boyfriend.

Zayn lets his sleepy state linger until he feels the bed dip with Liam's body. He reaches out to drag the brunet to his chest with a happy murmur. He now has a Liam-teddy held tightly to him as he places feathery kisses along the boys upturned face.

He lets out a giggle – _a giggle_ \- as Zayn kisses his face, swatting him away playfully but secretly enjoying the attention. Liam smirks as he slips his cold hands underneath Zayn’s tee, and giggling some more at his reaction.

Jumping, the darker boy nearly rolls off the bed in surprise. "No fair." He pokes the blind man in the ribs, enjoying the jump. He chuckles, but allows Liam to warm his hands with his abs.

Liam plants a kiss on Zayn’s shoulder, covered by his thin tee. “Sorry.” He mumbles as he slides his hands deeper to get them warm. After a few minutes, his stomach growls and Liam buries his face in Zayn’s neck, trying not to die of embarrassment.

Smirking, Zayn kisses the side of Liam's head before sitting them both up. "I agree with your stomach. Let's get some breakfast."

Nodding from his safe haven, Liam silently agrees, but makes no move to pull away from Zayn’s heat.

Giving a low laugh, the dark haired man gets them up and going. The house is silent the others still slumbering. Zayn sets Liam at the table and putter around the kitchen, crooning along with the radio.

Liam sings in a whisper to the radio as he waits for Zayn to give him coffee. “What are you making?”

"What you in the mood for?" he returns as he looks through the cabinets and fridge. "I can do eggs, toast, bacon, and pancakes." He waits for Liam's input.

“Mmm,” Liam crunches up his nose as he’s thinking. “All of it sounds good. Hopefully Harry and Niall went to the market this week though, they’ve been a little off so we might be missing a few ingredients.” He warns, tapping the rhythm of the song that’s playing on the counter with the tips of his fingers.

Nodding to himself, Zayn sets about making breakfast.

-

Harry wakes slowly, face to face with his lover. He watches Niall sleep, hand stroking tenderly through his hair.

A smile plays across Niall’s features as he tilts his head to lean into Harry’s touch. “Mmm,” he mews, eyes finally opening in search of Harry’s. Blue eyes blink a bit sleepily before his own fingers find Harry’s hip bone.

The brunet settles into Niall's space, breathing his air. "Tell me what's wrong."

Niall falters a bit, eyebrows furrowing to figure out what exactly Harry is asking of him. “What?” he finally speaks, his voice raspy from sleep and his activities from last night.

"Tell me what's wrong so I can fix it." His eyes shimmer with sadness. "I can't go through this again. I won't be shoved away like that."

He doesn’t speak, instead, his eyes slide shut and he hugs Harry to him. He knows that he was wrong to take out all his frustrations on Harry. He wasn’t the one that was changing, it was Niall. He kisses the boy in his grip and sighs, “There’s nothing to fix, just something I had to deal with.” He says, pulling away to pull Harry’s chin up so he can look him in the eyes again. “It won’t happen again.”

Seeing the conviction in his lover's eyes, Harry nods, leaning his head down and clutching at the blond. "I don't want to lose you."

“Never,” he whispers against Harry’s forehead, kissing it softly before sniffing the air. “Harry, you didn’t tell Liam he could try cooking again, did you?”

Blinking up at the blond, Harry sniffs the air as well. "If he's cooking, then he's doing a pretty good job of it." He sits up and throws his legs over the side of the bed. "Wanna find out?"

“Mmm,” Niall pulls Harry back to him with a giggle from the younger lad. “Maybe later, I want to make sure you haven’t grown another limb or something in the last couple of days.” He pulls Harry in the middle of the bed, crawling on top of him and burring his head in his lover’s neck, nudging his nose against warm skin.

The brunet puts up a fight for maybe the first minute or so, before giving in to his lover. Sighing, he sinks back into the bed, draping long arms over Niall to bring him closer.

-

Liam sits on the bar stool perfectly still as he awaits his breakfast. “Mmm, smells good,” he comments as he sips on his coffee that Zayn’s already fixed for him.

There's a loud snort from Zayn. "Yeah, but let's hope it tastes better than it smells." He comes over for a lingering kiss. "I'm not known for my culinary skills after all."

Louis comes in just in time to catch another kiss between the two. "Oh" he bemoans dramatically. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

Liam retaliates the only way he can: he sticks his tongue out at the older man with a laugh. Zayn dives in for another kiss as Louis rolls his eyes.

"Just don't do that over the food" he directs to the darker man. "I don't want any of that sappiness to seep into my share!" Before the brunet can protest another word, his phone rings. Looking down and seeing its Ryan, he quickly answers it.

It’s not like he can help that he has super hearing, but Liam knows that’s its Ryan on the other end and he pokes Louis in the hip as he continues to talk. He waits until he’s sure that Louis’ hung up before replying. “Hot date?”

The older man sputters, turning eight shades of red, finally deciding on "I will remember this, Liam!" before storming off to echoes of laughter in the kitchen.

“Err, Zayn, can you check the ottoman please once we finish our breakfast?”

+

Louis pauses outside the dinner with Ryan inside. He breathes and talks himself through going in. "Come on now, Lou, there's no use being a coward now." Running a hand through his hair he mutters "I like this guy; I love Aiden, but I have a professional responsibility" he frets. "I have a responsibility to Aiden, he needs me…” Trailing off, he places a hand over his eyes. His heart hurts, torn between what is and what could be.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on [tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks are [here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


	12. what dreams are made of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys have all their dreams come true - well sort of.

Liam is frustrated –sexually frustrated that is. He’s been with Zayn a couple of months now and hasn’t even been past second base. Either Zayn stops before things get too seriously or they get interrupted by Louis or Niall or a snickering Harry. It’s rather quite absurd that Liam hasn’t been able to get into his own boyfriends pants. And it’s beginning to take a toll on Liam’s poor nerves, so much so that he’s about to jump Zayn and tell him _exactly_ what he wants to do to him.

The problem is that Liam knows Zayn’s been being gentle with him, as if he can break. He understands he wants their first to be special, and he does too, but this is just getting plain ridiculous. Liam spends most of his time thinking about how Zayn, the other half of the time he’s trying to tame his raging hard on in semipublic places. He got an erection once by just brushing up against Zayn’s backside when they were in line for the movies. Liam spent the whole time during the movie hiding it from Zayn with his box of Junior Mints. Needless to say he didn’t enjoy the movie. He’s found himself resorting to wanking in the showers to thoughts of Zayn, he’s even _dreaming_ about it. He doesn’t want to push, but honestly he’s about to explode, quite literally.

He’s not really sure what to do. He doesn’t want to push Zayn, but the boy has got to know to what effect he has. Liam knows what he does to Zayn; he’s felt it on his leg while they make out on his bed – fully clothed mind you. It’s this that Liam is contemplating talking to Zayn about when he comes over.

Zayn is just styling his hair after the shower he took. He’s really been into his art since him and Liam have been together. A smile plays on his lips at the thought of the brunet. He’s getting ready to go over to Liam’s house now. When he gets there, its chaos. Louis is rushing around, late for court while yelling obscenities to Niall and Harry. While Liam thinks this is normal, Zayn’s still getting used to it. He has younger sisters, but damn, they were never this loud. The darker boy does his best to stay out of the way, heading over to give his boyfriend and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Want to head to mine?" He says low, wanting to spend some quiet time with Liam instead of being interrupted by the other boys.

Jumping at the chance, Liam nods and pulls himself up by Zayn’s arm. Hopefully this will be his chance to get somewhere with Zayn, maybe nudge him at least past second base. It’s nice to make out, but he’d like to actually be touched, and not by himself in the shower later on. “Let’s go,” he smiles.

They make it without any incident. Liam’s leg is actually bouncing while he’s sitting in the passenger seat of Zayn’s car at the anticipation of alone time with his boyfriend.

Making sure Liam makes it up the stairs of his apartment without being so obtrusive, Zayn leads him inside. "It's not too cluttered, so you should be able to move about freely today." There's a smile in his voice as he heads to his stereo, putting on some mellow music as he and the younger man make themselves comfortable on the couch.

Zayn settles against the blind man, an air of comfort surrounding them. Both chat about their day, soft music caressing against them. It starts with Liam running a hand gently across Zayn’s arm and the older man leaning in for a gentle press of lips. Liam opens up for him easily enough, slow and languid easily turning to a heated passion. The darker boy nibbles on Liam's earlobe a bit before moving down to his neck, biting gently.

Liam whimpers at touch, leaning into it by tilting his head. His hand presses against the back of Zayn’s neck, determined to keep him on this frame of mind. His other hand slides to trace his arm to his fingers, intertwining their fingers. Zayn instinctively tightens his grip between their fingers as he moves back up to nibble at Liam’s lips.

Pushing Zayn’s shoulder softly, Liam kisses him into submission, lying down on the couch so they’re both lying next to one another. He drapes his leg over Zayn’s, pressing his growing hard on against Zayn’s thigh.

Tensing a bit, Zayn moves back, trying to regain control. He doesn’t want to take things too far. While he hasn’t particularly taken things slow with his past boyfriends, Liam’s different, Liam’s special. His lips graze Liam’s softly, determined to keep this session PG as much as possible. He doesn’t expect Liam’s reaction though.

Liam growls at Zayn, eyebrows furrowing as he tries to move back. Before he can, Liam grabs his hand, stopping him, “Don’t, I’m not breakable Zayn. You’re not taking advantage of me, but I might take advantage of you don’t.” he breathes against Zayn’s lips as he places his hand on his erection. “Move your hand,” he doesn’t try to order him, but it comes out like that. Liam kisses the raven haired boy, trying to ease any tension he’s created with his stern words.

Hesitating only a moment, Zayn crashes their lips back together. He licks into Liam's mouth, hand traveling up, teasing the blind man's skin where his shirt has ridden up. Pressing fingers into heated flesh, the darker boy runs his fingertips just beneath the jeans covering his boyfriend before finally popping the button and sliding the zipper. Taking a deep breath, Zayn reaches inside and thumbs along Liam's boxer clad erection.

Groaning against Zayn’s lips, it is bitter sweet as he’s finally feeling Zayn react to something. Liam’s hand rests on Zayn’s shoulder, trying his best not to buck into the older man’s hand. “Zayn,” comes out strangled as he nips at his lips.

Getting the hint, the darker man presses past the boxers, and finally wrapping fingers around Liam's member to stroke. He moans into the blind man's mouth, flicking a thumb across the salty head.

Clutching at Zayn’s shirt, Liam whimpers at the touch. His lips find Zayn’s jawline, planting kisses across it; he sucks lightly against the skin of Zayn neck.

Wanting more, Zayn shifts them till their back upright. Before Liam can protest, he's sliding down to his knees and mouthing at the strip of skin right below his navel. The older man pulls at Liam's pants till they're low enough to get at him with his mouth. Swallowing around a suddenly dry throat, his eyes dart up to the younger man's flushed face before coming back to the task at hand. Zayn licks across the reddened member before sucking the head into his mouth; the taste of his lover makes him moan.

Liam worries his lip as he wonders exactly what’s going on in Zayn’s head. His breathe hitches however when he feels Zayn’s mouth on his dick. “Zayn,” he whimpers once again, hands searching out Zayn’s hair. He runs his fingers through it, not pushing, but for just something there to feel to let him know Zayn’s not going anywhere. His other hand moves to find Zayn’s free hand.

The older man tangles their hands together, sucking slowly. Liam's moans spur him on, letting him know he's doing right. He runs his teeth along the underside, tracing the thick vein with his tongue. Placing the blind man's hands into his own dark hair, he lets Liam know that he can grip or whatnot as he wraps a free hand around what doesn't fit in his mouth.

Tangling his fingers in Zayn’s gelled hair, and he’s pretty sure he’s messed it up. Liam’s too busy memorizing the slick feeling of him inside Zayn’s mouth to care though. The wetness and the enveloping heat surround him as he whimpers under his boyfriend movements.

Hollowing his cheeks, Zayn bobs his head quicker, trying to take as much as he can without gagging. When Liam hits the back of his throat, he keeps swallowing, humming in accomplishment. The vibrations rush up and down Liam's cock, bringing pleasure with it.

He doesn’t know how much longer he’s going to last. It’s so long since Liam’s been intimate with anyone other than his hand. He tugs on Zayn’s hair as a warning, “Z-Zayn” he shudders out his lover’s name.

Moaning in response, Zayn keeps sucking and jacking, other hand disappearing to his own pants. He keeps swallowing as he hears Liam crying out and feels the salty taste spurting against his tongue. Zayn moans around the spent cock, licking what he can up.

Spent, Liam’s head falls against the back of the couch. His breath is ragged and he’s having a hard time keeping from a spasm every time another tingle shoots through him. A smile spreads across his lips as his fingers tug on Zayn’s hair, something he’s yet to let go of. Once he’s got his strength back, he wants to make sure Zayn gets the same attention.

Watching Liam shudder on the couch sends Zayn over the edge. He barely feels the tug on his hair as he cums in his boxers. He’s going to have to change, but it’s worth it. It’s hot watching his boyfriend loose it from just his mouth. Once Liam tugs on his hair once more, Zayn manages to get back onto the couch with minimal grace. Wiping his hand on his jeans, he leans in and kisses Liam, letting the blind man taste himself in his mouth.

Liam smiles against the kiss, licking into Zayn’s mouth to taste his salty aftermath. He groans a bit, bucking his hips involuntary once more before his hands slide to undo Zayn’s trousers as he continues to kiss the older boy.

The darker man chuckles as he watches Liam realize he's already cum. "Next time, love" he whispers with a roughened voice. Waiting till they're both a bit steadier, Zayn stands and pulls Liam up with him. "Bed" he says, leading him in that direction.

Frowning, Liam drops his hand. “But I don’t… I didn’t…” he trails off as he’s led to the direction of the bed. He yawns though once he’s settled on the bed, patting around for Zayn when he does.

Seeing the younger man's actions, Zayn snuggles closer and pulls Liam to his chest. "So beautiful" he whispers. "And all mine."

Flushing bright pink, Liam buries his face in Zayn’s chest, “Every bit.” He smiles, clutching at his shirt before yawning once again. “You think that maybe we could…” Liam’s words falter. He shuts his mouth, only to open it again. “You think we might can keep that in our relationship… maybe even take it a little further than that…” his blush is brighter now that he’s sputtered out the words.

Zayn laughs and holds Liam closer to him. "Yes love, we can do that." He peppers kisses along his face. "And I can’t wait to take this further" he assures his boyfriend.

Liam smiles again, snuggling close to Zayn as he gets comfortable in post orgasm state. He kisses him softly on the cheek and nudges his nose to his warm skin as he sinks deeper into a much needed rest.

+

Louis gets comfortable on the couch, leaning against Liam while the television blares out the beginnings to the Twilight Zone. He's listening to his blind friend prattle on about his boyfriend, making a disgusted face as Liam just keeps getting sappier. Louis shoves a handful of popcorn into the younger man's mouth to quiet him down. "You go any further and I'm going to have to gag. Keep some of this in the bedroom Liam!" He laughs and knocks their shoulders together. "He's good for you" the older man says after a moment.

Blushing, Liam buries his face against the older man’s shoulder. “Yeah,” he breathes out finally, “He is.” He can’t help the smile that forms on his lips. He’s never been happier and Zayn has everything to do with it. Then something occurs to him. He raises his head and pokes at Louis’ side. “So what about your hot date the other day? What happened?” Louis has been awfully quiet about it and Liam wants to know what happened.

The older brunet blushes deeply, thinking back:

-+-

Pacing in front of the diner for a moment, Louis wipes clammy hands on his pants. He’s not seen Ryan since he kissed him in his kitchen and ran for dear life. He’s almost afraid of how he’s left things. He’s not seen Aiden yet either, but he’s pretty sure Ryan wouldn’t press his problems on his son, hopefully. He probably hates him for ditching but he panicked. The kiss took him by surprise and Louis still doesn’t know exactly what to do about this.

"You can do this" he finally psych's himself up and enters. His eyes roam the area until he sees Ryan wave at him from a booth in the far back. Louis can’t help the happy smile that forms on his face. No matter what, he still associates good memories with Aiden and his father. He makes his way over and sets down. "Hope I'm not late." Even though he knows he is.

“Just in time,” Ryan smiles at the man as he sits. He’s already ordered his drink and doesn’t appear to be angry at Louis. “Order anything you like, my treat.”

The younger brunet pours over the menu. It’s silent for a moment, something Louis particularly hates; he has to have some sort of noise all the time. But he’s not that the only one, ever sense the accident, neither has the rest of the boys. Keeping the radio on or television on at all times helps that. "How's Aiden been doing?" He's trying to keep his nervousness from showing.

“He’s doing well, but he’s not the reason why I asked you here.” Ryan puts his menu down; it’s rather pointless to skirt around this topic any longer. He tries looking at Louis in the eye, but the man isn’t looking at him at this point. “Look, I know you have your job and everything but I want to be with you.”

Louis's mouth goes dry. He hesitates a moment before meeting Ryan's eyes. "I..." Not sure what to say, he trails off. He is floored when Ryan comes straight out about his feelings. “Ryan” he starts, but doesn’t continue. He wants what’s best for Aiden.

"Before you say ‘we have to think about what's best for Aiden’, I'm fully prepared to get him with another counselor or pull him out of the program completely for you. He'd much rather spend the time with you then with someone else. And I don't want to jeopardize your job either." Ryan looks at him, rubbing the condensation off his glass of water nervously waiting Louis’ reply.

-+-

The older man blinks and comes back to himself, sitting next to Liam.

Louis can be so frustrating all the time. Squeezing his eyes shut, Liam exhales dramatically. He pokes him to get his attention after a few moments of silence. “You can’t leave me hanging, so, what did you say?” He’s antsy with anticipation, fiddling with the material of Louis shirt.

Turning closer to Liam, Louis answers “That Aiden is most important.”

His face falling, Liam is disappointed. He can’t believe Louis would turn something down he obviously wanted to happen. Liam tries his best to hide his crestfallen face, “Oh.”

Smiling, just a little, he tells his blind friend “Then I told him I wanted to be with him too.” Louis is sure the other can hear the smirk in his voice.

Punching the boy in the arm, Liam frowns. “You should have said that first you dick.” He chuckles, soothing where he punched Louis in the arm, feeling rather guilty for using that kind of force. “Well good on ya mate!”

Leaning back with a full on grin, the older brunet cuddles himself against Liam’s side. ”If I had done that, it would have made it less dramatic! Makes things much more interesting.”

Shaking his head, Liam buries his head against the crook of Louis’ neck. “I suppose you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t cause some sort of drama.”

“Damn right!” his friend murmurs back at him. Louis chuckles, “This way I can hang out with Aiden, though I don’t get paid for it. But it doesn’t matter because I’ll still be helping him…”

“It also helps that you’re totally in love with his father…”

“Shut up.”

+

Harry’s eyes are wide and sparkle with happiness and longing as he flips glossy page after glossy page of the magazine geared towards restaurants. “Look at this one!” he breathes to Niall, pointing out a retro styled booth/table combination.

An arm around Harry’s shoulder, Niall peers at the page and smiles. “Looks a bit more like Louis, all eccentric like.” The younger boy laughs at Niall and agrees, “But I like it, gives the place an edge. Keep it in mind.”

With that, Harry dog tags the page and moves on. They’re in the paint section now, and Harry’s got loads of sticky notes on the colors he likes. Niall keeps looking at him endearing like, which makes Harry blush every so often. Niall’s trying, really he is. He understands that it’s not Harry’s fault that he dislikes the presence of Zayn and what that might mean to the group dynamics. While he still doesn’t like the fact that Zayn’s been spending time with Liam and he’s fairly sure he’ll leave him once he figures out that being with a blind person isn’t all romance like the novels and movies make it out to be. On top of that, Zayn’s life is art, Liam despises it, has made ever attempt to get rid of it in his life. What’s Zayn going to do when he realizes Liam won’t ever support his dream? Bet the jerk hasn’t even thought about that.

They’re in a back booth on their lunch break of the restaurant flipping through some magazines that have restaurant designs. This has been Harry and Niall’s life for years. They wanted to do this when they were in their high school cooking class throwing brownie mix at each other. They went to school for this, made a career out of this. And one day in the very near future, Niall is going to buy Harry a restaurant of their own that they can manage and cook for and make billions of dollars so Liam will never know heartbreak again, whether from a broken relationship or a broken dream.

“I really like this green but does it look too blah?” Harry asks, taking Niall out of his daze.

Looking down at the jade green, Niall smiles, “No, it reminds me of you, it matches your eyes.”

“Awh,” Harry coos, sneaking a quick kiss before he turns back to look through the magazine. They both occasionally point out what they like and sometimes what they don’t. Niall’s arm falls across Harry’s shoulder, and ends up tugging him closer to his body. With Harry tucked up against him, Niall feels comfortable and complete. The past few months have been hell for the both of them and he’s glad that they’re both back in good terms again.

Niall knows he has to do this right for Harry in order for him to stay. He wants this for the rest of his life – Harry by his side. But he also knows if he continues to fuck it up, he won’t have him for long. He needs him and knows he can’t live without him. Niall’s had Harry since he was a shy eleven year old just starting middle school – fifteen years of Harry by his side. He doesn’t know how to live without him and doesn’t want to.

They’re close to making a down payment to start the business they’ve always wanted. They know the risks, but it’s a dream, and Niall will never let anyone crush Harry’s dreams. They need the down payment to start the loan and they’ve already got a place in mind. Harry and Niall walk past it every day. It’s in the heart of the city and a great spot for a restaurant. Lots of people pass it daily and Niall thinks they’ll do amazing. If everything goes well, Niall will have the money for the payment in a couple of months and can’t surprise Harry – he’s been eyeing the place ever since they moves here two years ago.

“So what do you think?” Harry breaks Niall’s train of thought and the blond looks at him a bit confused, looking down at the magazine then back up at his boyfriend.

“Huh?” Harry rolls his eyes and chuckles, ruffling Niall’s hair a bit.

“The name of our restaurant?”

“Mmm?” Harry rolls his eyes again and laughs.

“Pay attention to me love.” He almost whines and Niall squeezes him close.

“Tell me the name wanker!” Niall chuckles, nuzzling his face in the younger boys neck.

This makes Harry giggle. “Moments.” He says after a moment, confidently.

Niall thinks a bit, “I love it.”

Harry beams and even if Niall hated it, he couldn’t possibly do anything about with the way Harry is looking at him like that. That’s all he wants, for Harry to be happy.

They talk about the lettering, whether it should be cursive or print, fancy or casual. They eventually settle on something in between. The next hour is talk of tablecloths and plates and Niall wouldn’t have it any other way.

Later on, when they’re working, Niall is making a dish when Harry comes up behind him and nuzzles him in the neck, eliciting a giggle from the blond. “’Arry, you’re gonna make me burn myself, or worse, burn you.”

“Love you.” Harry whispering against hot skin is all the response he gets.

Niall smiles, “I love you more.” He smirks as Harry stands beside him to stir the soup he’s making. “One day real soon, we’re going to have everything we’ve ever dreamed of and I can’t wait to share all that with you.”

Harry looks at him all lovingly “Getting sappier and sappier the older you get, aren’t you?”

Laughing, Niall makes to flick a bit of sauce at Harry. “No, it’s just this curly haired git that I’m in love with making me this way.”

The younger boy looks offended but smiles, “Aw, I have no clue what I’m going to do with you.”

“Love me, just love me.”

“God help me, I do.” Harry smiles, kissing Niall on the cheek before they continue on with their assigned tasks.


	13. Chocolate Sauce & Breadsticks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams does come true for Zayn and Louis has his first date.

Licking his lips from the chocolate taste, Zayn dips his fingers through the mess of cum and chocolate sauce on Liam’s stomach and hums in delight at the taste when he slides the coated fingers in his mouth. He’s close; he can feel it low in his belly, as he is still thrusting inside Liam slowly while letting the blind man ride out his orgasm.  
Just as he’s about to go over his own edge, Zayn wakes up with a jolt as he falls over the side of his bed, the covers tangled around his limbs and wet from the sweat and precum from his own body. He had been dreaming. He is now wide awake and looking around a little dazed to see if he was the only one in the room. No Liam, no chocolate sauce, no orgasm. He sighs in frustration as he pushes himself off the floor and slings his bedding back on the bed, not worrying about fixing it as he scratches his lower stomach while walking into his bathroom.  
Stretching, Zayn realizes that he is still hard, as he wasn’t able to finish in his fantasy out. Well, he’ll just have to finish in the shower now he supposes as he walks to turn on the water. About the time he does, though, the phone rings. He sighs and shuts the water off, palming at his harden dick to try and will it down. He throws himself on his bed, back in his bedroom and answers his phone with an aspirated ‘hello.’  
It’s his mom. Of course it would be her because she always calls him at times that is the most inconvenient. They talk for about twenty minutes and by this time Zayn has lost all signs of his morning fantasies underneath his boxers but it’s not completely out of his mind when he receives a text message shortly after hanging up with his mother from Liam.  
cmning ovr? ;)  
Zayn hesitates for a moment before sending out a response, because if he really thought it over he probably wouldn’t be sending it.  
yeah, grocery shopping first then my place?  
He’s already halfway to the bathroom to take his shower when Liam responses.  
sure :)))  
So much for rubbing one out in the shower, he would much rather release inside of Liam than his hand, preferable with Liam’s groans egging him on. It’s not that the boys haven’t been sexually active – what does that even mean? But they’ve been taking things slow, Zayn suspects that Liam was worried about Niall and Harry before but now that everything is semi back to normal, it means that they can pick up the pace a little. At least that is what Zayn’s hoping to accomplish soon.  
He’d never make Liam do anything he didn’t want to do, it’s not like that, but the boy has got to know he’s struggling to keep from sinking himself down on Liam’s cock, and he’s sure Liam wants the same. They’ve talked about it, that’s one thing Zayn’s not ever really had in a relationship – someone that wants to talk about things. Mostly, it’s been take, take, take without asking, but with Liam it’s different. It’s like Liam respects his wishes, wants Zayn to know that he’s appreciated and his dreams and desires are valued. While they’ve finally managed to have sex, it seems to have made his desire for Liam stronger than ever and he just can’t get the picture of licking chocolate syrup off Liam’s body out of his mind.  
When Liam answers the door, Zayn swears that his heart skips. While he knows it’s highly unlikely, he can’t explain the draw he has with Liam to be near him, touch him all the time, or the way he finds it hard to breathe himself when Liam’s breathe catches on those rare moments they are close together and snogging the brains out of one another.  
“Let’s go to the grocery store, I’m out of…cheese.” he winces at his choice, he should have thought of a better reason to be going to the grocery store then just cheese on his way here, but Liam seems to accept it, and holds out his hand to Zayn to guide him out of the house and to the street.  
They walk the few blocks to the grocery store, both idly talking about their hours apart – Zayn skips the dream he had and tells him about his mother calling. Liam’s interested in this; he is always interested in aspects of Zayn that the boy doesn’t put out there much.  
Zayn always has been reserved, quiet, observing his surrounds rather than participating in them. Life of an artist, he supposes. He likes capturing his surrounds, but never interfering with them, never manipulating them. That characteristic of Zayn filters through every aspect of his life. Through the way he interacts with others, his art, and the way he never offers up any information about his family or his past. And anything Liam can weasel out of him about his family, he does so.  
They’re in the grocery store, Zayn grabbing a cart and Liam holds on to the side as they both make their way through the aisles. Continuing their conversation from outside, Zayn lets Liam talk about his own family and what it’s like living with the same boys for about ten years – Zayn gathered that Liam’s family didn’t want much to do with him after they found out their only son was blind by the way he talked as he tells Zayn that he has lived with Louis since he was seventeen, Harry and Niall since he was eighteen.  
Zayn only interrupts him to let him know he’s going down the sweets aisles. “Let’s go down this aisle.”  
“Okay,” Liam says before going back to what he was talking about, something about Louis almost burning down the kitchen the other day. He lets him tell the story as he stops the cart, a smile playing on his lips as the stop seemed not to phase Liam one bit as he talks animatedly about his best friends.  
Looking at the place in the shelves that he stopped by, Zayn licks his lips as he picks up a bottle of chocolate syrup. Throwing it in the cart, he abruptly says, “Alright, we’re done.” To a slightly bewildered Liam. “Got all I needed.”  
He’s glad that Liam doesn’t question him as they go to the check out. It only takes them ten minutes to walk to Zayn’s, as it’s not very far from either Liam’s house or the grocery store. Stumbling through the door, Zayn’s fidgeting just at the thought of being able to use that chocolate syrup on something other than ice cream. While Zayn puts everything away, Liam heads to the living room, making himself comfortable.  
Zayn’s apartment is shitty, he’s a starving artist, it’s almost a given. It’s small and lacks many things that a person might have in their apartment, like pictures of his family or a proper dining room table. Zayn’s grateful Liam is able to be so at home in his apartment, makes what they have seem a little bit more special.  
Once Zayn’s got all his groceries put away, everything save the chocolate syrup, which is sitting on the counter for Zayn when he can use it, he heads into the living room to join Liam there. Liam’s already got the television on; his shoes kicked off, and curled underneath a ratty blanket Zayn keeps there in case he gets cold.  
“Scoot.” Liam smiles, lifting the blanket as Zayn slides in beside him underneath the material. Liam lays his head on Zayn’s shoulder as they get comfortable. Zayn tries to pretend to be watching the television more than concentrating on Liam’s breathing patterns or the way his lips look plump and ready just asking to be bitten.  
As if Liam’s reading his mind, he leans up and presses his lips to Zayn’s jawline, darting his tongue out to test the waters. Once Zayn feels the wetness on his hot skin, he can’t help the whimper he lets out. It’s like that’s exactly what Liam was waiting for, crawling into Zayn’s lap and attacking his lips.  
Liam’s crotch is pressing against Zayn’s and he can feel how hard the blind man is already and “fuck,” he says out loud. Things heat up rather quickly, both boys stopping their heated kiss to pull of each other’s shirts in haste. Liam’s got is hands down his pants before he realizes that he’s missing an opportune moment to use the sauce that’s sitting on the counter in the kitchen.  
Pausing and pulling Liam’s hands away from his tented boxers, Zayn breathes heavily, “Hang on a sec,” He almost gives in though when he hears Liam whimper helplessly. Pushing Liam out of his lap and sitting beside him, Zayn stands up and leans down to kiss him for a moment. Liam leans into the kiss and chases Zayn’s lips as he pulls away, claiming “You’ll like it, I promise.” Before he’s gone and Liam’s sitting on the couch with a hard on and no boyfriend to relieve him of it.  
Zayn comes back a moment later with the chocolate sauce in hand. He sits it on the floor beside the couch and kisses Liam into submission, pressing him back down onto the couch. Running his tongue along the seam of Liam’s lips, Zayn dips it into Liam’s mouth when he opens up his lips, inviting him to deepen the kiss. He continues the kiss for a few minutes before pulling back to take some time to kiss down Liam’s stubble to his jawline.  
Liam whimpers again when he feels the loss of contact but Zayn only smirks at his needy boyfriend. “Hold still.” He says as he takes the bottle, uncapping it, and pulling the top open with his teeth. He then proceeds to drizzle a bit of syrup on Liam’s chest, letting it run down to his navel.  
Squirming, Liam bites down on his bottom lip, which is a lot sexier than Zayn imagined it would be. “’S cold.” He whines and Zayn shuts him up by quickly ducking down and licking the strip from the top of his navel to Liam’s throat. Liam moans, grabbing for Zayn’s head, holding it at his throat as Zayn lick and sucks the chocolate off.  
After a moment of marking his boyfriend, Zayn moves to kiss Liam, sharing the chocolate taste with him. After a moment of slow kissing, Zayn pulls back with a smirk, tugging Liam up. “Come on, chocolate sauce can be messy and that’s just the tip of the iceberg to what I want to do to you.” He chuckles as Liam chokes on air.  
Zayn throws the blanket on the floor, not caring if chocolate gets on that and guides Liam off the couch and onto the floor, laying him on the blanket. His landlord would kill him if he got chocolate sauce on the floor and he probably wouldn’t get his deposit back.  
Moving to kiss Liam, Zayn slots his body against his lovers, moving the chocolate syrup closer to the couple. Liam must get a little impatient because he’s flipping them and now he’s on top of Zayn, pressing his stiffened cock against Zayn’s thigh and it’s his turn to whimper.  
Grabbing the chocolate, Liam pours a bit on his fingers as he smears it on Zayn’s chest. Zayn lets out a throaty whine and sucks in a breath when Liam’s fingers coat over a sensitive nipple. He’s not prepared for what is next as Liam replaces his finger with his mouth, sucking the nub into submission and licking the chocolate off all at the same time. The brunet continues by licking wide strips across Zayn’s chest where Liam decided to finger paint him.  
Forcing Liam’s head up for a kiss, Zayn pushes his shoulder back so that Liam’s now lying flat on his back. He makes quick work of Liam’s pants and stripes him of his clothing once and for all. Without another word and licking his lips hungrily, Zayn positions himself between Liam’s legs and squeezes a bit of chocolate out onto the head of Liam’s already hardening dick. Liam shivers at this, gasping out Zayn’s name.  
Zayn’s sticky fingers hold Liam’s hips down as he gives an experimentative lick before swallowing the boy down as far as he can go. After a few moments, Zayn pulls back only enough to run chocolate fingers down the base of Liam’s cock to his balls, chasing his touch with his tongue.  
As one fingertip presses against Liam’s entrance, he hears the boy sob. With a smirk, Zayn presses it in, looking up to see his boyfriends head throw back with a louder moan escaping his lips and a strangled noise that he bets is his name being called out at the surprising intrusion. Without guidance, Liam spreads his legs wider, accommodating Zayn’s body and making him more accessible.  
Dipping his face down, Zayn darts his tongue across Liam’s puckered hole. Liam groans again, surprised at the sensations that’s racking his body. Another groan is ripped from him as Zayn opens him up with his tongue. Feeling the warmth spread of his body, he knows he’s close. As if Zayn knows can read his mind, he backs away then, leaving Liam strung out and wanton.  
Eagar lips work themselves up Liam’s body, connecting at last to his lover’s. Wrapping his arms around Zayn as if he’s worried he’s going somewhere, he draws the darker man closer. Their kiss is momentarily paused as Liam can feel Zayn stretching out to reach something on the blanket. When his hand closes around the object, he gives one last kiss and lifts away, moving till he’s knelt between pale legs.  
Zayn leans in; breathe ghosting across Liam’s collarbone before licking a patch of missed chocolate. Liam hears the snick of a lid and a moment later he shivers as Zayn slick fingers stretch him farther. First it’s one, then two, and by the time Zayn adds a third digit, Liam’s a mess. “Please Z-Zayn, I’m ready.”  
Chuckling lightly, Zayn removes his fingers. Before Liam can feel the loss, Zayn’s gripping his hips and pushing in. Both men groan as Zayn pushes to the hilt. One of Zayn’s hand’s release Liam’s hips and tangles their fingers together.  
Liam becomes impatient as Zayn gives him a moment to adjust. There’s a little pain, but it’s the good kind. He moves his hips, trying to get Zayn to up the pace. He complies shortly afterwards. Soon the room is filled with the sounds of gasps, please’s, and slick skin sliding together. After a few thrusts, Zayn pulls Liam up, sitting him in his lap, while still thrusting. The change of the angle has Liam crying out, digging his nails into Zayn’s shoulder blades.  
Both are close to release. Zayn holds Liam closer, bring his mouth to Liam’s ear. “C’mon baby, do it for me. Cum for me.” Liam’s head goes back and a shock goes up his spine. The thing he hears is Zayn’s “I love you” before his orgasm drowns everything out.  
When Liam comes back to himself, Zayn’s gasping into the crook of his neck, hips shuddering as he cums. Liam lets out a moan at the feeling of Zayn’s cock pulsing and releasing inside him. Zayn slips out and gently lowers them to the floor. Liam ends up on Zayn’s chest, but wiggles, trying to find a more comfortable position until Zayn moves them out of the wet spot and wraps a dry part of the blanket over them both. As they’re nodding off, Liam remembers what Zayn said. He wants to say something by Zayn’s slowed breathing shows he’s already asleep. Liam places his head back on Zayn’s chest, smiling and relaxing into sleep.  
+  
Louis flitters around the house. He’s nervous about his date with Ryan. At the moment, he’s rummaging through his clothes, trying to find something ‘good’ to wear while Liam’s sitting on the edge of his bed listening to him. It’s about this time that Liam starts chuckling, ending in a full blown laugh as he listen to Louis mumble about shirts and storms around the room.  
Louis stops and stares at Liam, “You’re laughing?” he asks wailing, voice sounding a bit incredulous. He watches Liam get up and walk towards him, gripping his shoulders.  
“It’s okay Louis, he’s gonna like you regardless of what you’re wearing…In fact, less clothes is probably a better idea.” Liam grins.  
Laughing out and relaxing, Louis knows he’s being ridiculous, but it’s his first official date with Ryan and he wants it to be amazing.  
“Wear something that accentuates that ass of yours.”  
Louis rolls his eyes. “Already covered.” Liam smacks his arm.  
“Don’t roll your eyes at me and finish getting ready or you’ll be late.” Louis eyes blow up when Liam mentions the eye rolling, but his head snaps to the side searching for the clock at the mention of being late.  
“Shit!” he scrambles for a white shirt to go with his red skinny jeans and rushes off to the bathroom, leaving a trail of curses in his wake.  
Liam just shakes his head and moves to get ready himself; he has plans to eat with Niall and Harry at the restaurant tonight.  
-  
Louis is driving to meet Ryan, as he also checks his appearance in his rearview mirror self-consciously. When Louis pulls up Ryan’s ready, opening the door and getting in the passenger seat. “You look good.” Louis blushes at his words and grins.  
“Well, let’s get this party started!” Louis babbles and winces immediately after the sentence is out of his mouth. But it makes Ryan laugh and it settles his nerves a little.  
They make it to the restaurant in good time, Ryan chatting amicably on the way there, relaxing Louis. On the way to their table, Louis fidgets with his cuffs, distracted and almost runs into Ryan, who’s pulled his chair out for him. Louis sits with Ryan, grinning embarrassed.  
Before he can say anything to make a joke about the situation, the waiter comes up, “Bonjour” Ryan answers back in French and orders drinks and appetizers as well. Louis knew in the back of his mind that Ryan spoke different languages, but somehow he forgot and feels kind of turned on by it, just having those words (any words really) escaping from that mouth, especially with the smoothness of the French language. He could be cussing him out and Louis probably wouldn’t care.  
Louis speaks a bit of French as well and says as much to Ryan, who grins and asks him a question, but has to repeat it slower. Louis gets it and answers, moving on to try to empress him a bit. While trying to talk about the preservatives in bread, he misses words and winds up saying the equivalent of there are condoms in the bread. Ryan, who had been taking a sip of water, snorts water and chokes a bit, trying to laugh, especially at Louis’ confused expression, even some of the waiters are laughing.  
During the dinner, Ryan is trying for romance, and Louis is flatter, but he fumbles a bit. He finds it endearing. They come to the desert portion of the date and Ryan orders a large slice of chocolate cake, Louis grinning and bats his lashes at Ryan. “Aw, you didn’t want anything?” Ryan’s brow shoots up and looks Louis up and down. When the cake arrives, Louis grins and offers him a bite.  
At the end of the night, Louis drops Ryan off and walks him to the door. Ryan goes for a classic chaste kiss on the lips before drawing away. Louis gives him a ‘what the fuck’ look before an ‘aw hell no’ look all at once and reaches for Ryan’s bottom lip. Louis hands go from the back of Ryan’s head to his ass, squeezing and releasing. After a moment, Louis steps back, licking his own lips and grinning. “Thanks hun, I had a great night.” He grins and steps back, staring at Ryan’s kiss-swollen lips and shell shocked face.  
Louis grins and walks back to his car, waving as Ryan still stands there, smirking when he sees Ryan’s finger ghost over his lips as he puts the car in drive and heads home.  
Liam jumps Louis as soon as he enters the house, literally. Louis gasps and nearly causes them both to fall over. “Damn it Puppy Payne! You need to go out or something?” Liam smacks him on the back of his head.  
“How was it?” Louis tells him about the date as he walks to his room, getting ready for bed as Liam follows him like a puppy, hanging on every word. “And he didn’t even compliment my ass in these jeans, what a waste.”  
Laughing, Liam smiles, “He’ll notice it soon enough, gentleman or not!” Louis throws a pillow at him as he is leaving.  
+  
Zayn’s happy with the new intimacy with Liam. It shows in his artwork, even his friends and agent can tell there is definitely something going on. It’s vivid, bright, and much happier. He’s had more inspiration lately and in good time, the gallery show is coming up quickly. He’s working on a few extra pieces for his opening and he’s nervous about it. He doesn’t want to fuck this up. This is what can make or break him as an artist and he’s heard that there will be some big names at this. This might be he’s shot to fame and fortune. He really wants the person responsible for this turn of events to come, Liam, but he remembers Harry’s conversation with him earlier about Liam and art. He wants to talk to Liam about his art, but he’s kind of scared to upset him, now especially that they’ve gotten something so good. He also doesn’t want to breech his trust with Liam either.  
It’s this he’s thinking about when Harry arrives at the store for his shift and Zayn smiles at him. Harry can tell he’s thinking about something, he’s got those brooding shoulders and furrowed eyebrows going on. “What’s up?” he asks, settling down in a chair beside the older man.  
He tells Harry about his gallery opening and asks about bringing Liam along. Harry pauses a moment, chewing on his bottom lip before thoughtful responding. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea. Liam’s very sensitive about art of any kind. Believe me, I’ve tried bringing to Liam to an art exhibit and he totally freaked on me. I had to call Louis to calm him down and even then he wouldn’t speak to me for a while after that. It wasn’t pretty.” Harry stops when he sees Zayn’s long face. “Hey, but that was a long time ago. I’ve been afraid to bring it up again, but maybe you’ll be different. He knows art is your career.”  
Zayn nods and continues with his sketch, head full and only hearing the low drawl of Harry’s voice but not really the words that are coming out of his mouth except the low “Good Luck” he says before heading to the back to get the paints to restock the shelves.


	14. End of the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall is planning for the future, while something happens to jeopardize that future.

Plugging in amounts into the loan calculator that he’s found online, Niall mumbles to himself. If his calculations are correct, there isn’t much more he and Harry need in order to put a down payment on a place for their future restaurant. He hasn’t told Harry yet, wanting to surprise him. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up when they still got a ways to go.

He can pull a few more extra shifts at the restaurant, see if there is another part time job he can get to get a little extra cash so the two of them can actually start living their dreams. It has taken thirteen years to get to this point, from the point of whispers underneath duvets about owning their own restaurant together to both getting in the same top culinary school to actually having the means to go through with those dreams whispered all those years ago. It’s all worth it, to share this with the man he’s in love with.

This also means that Niall can make an honest man out of Harry. Make him his forever officially. Harry has never once pushed marriage on Niall, though they’ve talked about it, but he knows both of them are antsy about maybe getting their own place and leaving Liam and Louis. Niall had wanted to wait until they got their business before popping the question seriously to him. Really, they already act married anyways. Living together, sleeping together, they even have Liam and Louis to take care of like they’re their children. But eventually, he wants a house of their own, kids of their own, all while running a successful business. Liam and Louis will understand.

Another plus side to getting another job is that it gets Niall out of the house and away from Zayn. Even though he’s being civil towards the raven-haired man, it doesn’t mean he has to go out of his way to be friendly. He still doesn’t like the fact that Zayn’s becoming so close to Liam, but he’s trying to be rational for Harry. Mainly, he’s just worried that Zayn’s no good for his friend. That because his world is art, he’ll leave Liam behind once he figures out Liam won’t have anything to do with that world.

Harry will pout about the extra time away from him, but he knows about how passionate Niall is about this restaurant. Harry wants this as much as Niall, so he won’t put up much of a fight, probably even offers to do the same to contribute.

Of course, Niall will decline the offer. He wants this to be his gift to Harry. If Niall can give Harry the best, Harry will stay with him even though he doesn’t deserve him. He’s always felt that Harry was too good for him. He’s sweet and caring and innocent and Niall’s, well, he caused one of his best friends go blind and took away two of his friends futures. He doesn’t deserve anything, especially not the love Harry gives him. He knows they’ve been stretched thin lately, but he believes it will all be worth it in the end. And it will be; it has to be.

But he’s getting a little frayed around the edges, and everyone’s noticed. He’s got stubble, his normally bright blue eyes, are dark because of his lack of sleep. His hair is getting longer because he hasn’t had time to cut it. He’s just exhausted, but he can’t stop; won’t stop. No one can get him to just stop and sleep. Harry’s tried many times, even Liam, but he’s not having any of it. He’s being overworked and not getting enough  _good_  sleep, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. Any other way and he’d have to actually  _think_  about what’s going on at home.

He  _is_  trying to please Harry with the hours he has free. Cuddling up with him to watch a movie in bed, which he usually falls asleep to before they even hit the half way mark, having dinner with him, and the mundane stuff like grocery shopping. Harry’s probably the most effected by Niall’s behavior, but the Irishman doesn’t see any other way of getting the money for the loan without a little sacrifice in the beginning. Harry will understand, if not now, eventually.

Niall’s at work right now, his laptop open to the bank website when Harry comes in; Niall almost forgot Harry’s got a shift today. He rubs his hand over his face before he smiles tiredly at Harry. “Hey babe.”

Harry greets him with a kiss and plops down beside him and glances at the screen. He sighs; sliding a hand into Naill’s and smiles. “You’re gonna work yourself to death and I won’t have anyone to enjoy running our restaurant with.” It’s meant to be a joke, but Niall can find the traces of worry and pain in his words.

Squeezing Harry’s hand reassuringly, he smiles. “Never going to happen.” He can’t help the nagging feeling that something else is bothering the brunet.

“So I just heard that  _that_  food critic is coming for dinner tonight. It’s the one I hate. He’s the one who gave us a bad review a year ago because he can’t pick the right wine with his food. And that’s not our fault!” So that’s it, Niall chuckles, relaxing.

“Relax, we’ll knock his socks off this time.” He shuts his laptop so they can begin getting ready for dinner.

The rest of the two hours before the restaurants scheduled dinner, Harry complains about the food critic and rambling about ways to poison and/or choke him with the food while he’s prepping the food. It’s all Niall can do not to yell at him to go somewhere else. It’s really getting on Niall’s nerves, though he loves Harry very much, he hasn’t had enough sleep for this. Either he needs a drink or he needs Harry to relax and go somewhere to calm down before he ruins it all before it even begins.

When Harry pads across the floor to where Niall is to grab some ingredient, Niall grabs him by the waist, pulling him into a hug. “Calm down love, everything will be fine.” He smiles, pulling away and patting his shoulder. Harry looks like he’s about to go off again and Niall smirks, kissing him into submission before he shoves him in the pantry and locks the door.

A pounding on the door comes next. “Hey! Niall, let me out!”

“It’s for your own good and for me. It’s for the good of our future restaurant. Remember that when I let you out after he leaves.” He hears Harry kick the door and huffs at that. Niall smiles as he can imagine Harry crossing his arms and pouting. He doesn’t like that he had to lock Harry in the pantry, but they need all the good reviews they can get so they can have a good starting reputation when they own their own restaurant. “Love you!” he calls before heading back to the stove to finish sautéing the onions.

A little while later, John, the owner of the restaurant, comes into the kitchen; his eyes wander around the kitchen with a puzzling look. “Where’s Harry?” As if on cue, they hear a noise in the pantry and John gives Niall a knowing look before shaking his head and going about his business.

Later that week, when Harry’s scanning the paper, they find the review. It’s rather outstanding and Niall smiles smugly. Clasping Harry’s back, Niall says to his own amusment, “See, we’re well on our way.”

Harry grumbles. “Well, you didn’t have to lock me in the pantry for it.”

“Oh yes I did, you would have done something to that man and we’d be in jail, or worse have a bad review. Now we have a great review thanks to the actions I had to take that day.” He smiles, kissing Harry as he puts down the paper to pounce on the younger man, kissing him into submission.

+——————————————————————+

He’s running late, as always. He woke up late and had to skim his shower a bit, not washing his hair, in order to get out the door on time. Louis runs past Liam, who is sitting at the island in the kitchen, calling out a ‘bye’ and heads out the door.

Louis is picking up Aiden for one of his games. When he arrives at Ryan’s house, he goes in, pecking Ryan lightly on the lips as he’s getting ready for work. The smile on Louis’ face just grows wider, “Have a good day babe.”

“Same to you.” He calls as Louis goes to make sure Aiden is up and ready. He finds a nervous Aiden in his room, pulling on the shirt of his uniform.

“Hey,” Louis leans against the door frame, “Nervous?”

“Yeah,” Aiden says quietly, tugging on his uniform shirt.

“I was too my first game, but once I got in there, it came second nature.” He chuckles, remembering his own first baseball game he played in. Aiden laughs and Louis ruffles his hair, grabbing his baseball cap and putting it on the top of the eight year olds head. “Now let’s go before you’re late.” There is a buzz in the car as they both excitedly talk about the game, Louis giving some pointers when Aiden is playing.

Louis is probably the loudest person there, cheering Aiden even if he doesn’t get a hit. During the game, Louis gets a call from his work. Glancing up at Aiden as he’s about to head out to the pitch, he doesn’t want to answer but one quick glance at the screen he realizes it’s his boss and he’ll get reamed if he doesn’t pick up.

“Hello?” He answers; his boss has called to discuss a case that Louis just took and about him filling out his paperwork. Louis looks up as he hears a commotion and scream and he just _knows_  its Aiden. Dropping his phone, he runs to him without thinking.

His mind is racing when he gets there, seeing Aiden sitting on the ground, clutching his arm and Louis feels like he’s going to be sick. “Aiden, what’s wrong? What hurts?”

Aiden peers up at him with tears in his eyes, “My arm.”

Flashbacks to the accident ten years ago and the doctor’s visit afterwards go through his mind and Louis shivers. He has to pull himself together for Aiden. He is careful when he helps Aiden up and grabs his phone before they head to the car.

They go straight to the hospital, Louis staring straight ahead as Aiden softly whimpers in the passenger seat with every bump. Louis doesn’t say it out loud, but he knows that Aiden’s arm’s won’t be well enough by the end of the season. His baseball career, at least for the time being, is over.

After registering Aiden in the emergency room, Louis pulls out his phone to call Ryan, but only gets his voicemail. He leaves a message, trying to hold back the tears as he tells his boyfriend that Aiden probably had broken his arm at the game and that he was sorry and that they were at the hospital.

Ryan gets there as soon as he can. He had to get another translator to cover his meetings. It wasn’t easy on short notice, but he managed to find someone that was willing to do it. When he gets to Louis, he knows immediately that Louis is still upset with himself.

Before Ryan can say anything, Louis is looking up at him with tears threatening to spill over his cheeks. “I’m so sorry…I understand if you don’t me around Aiden anymore. I ruined everything.” He physically slumps into the seat.

Shaking his head, Ryan bends down to crouch in between Louis’ legs, rubbing a hand on his knee. “It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you at all.” He tries to get the man to calm down, pulling him up with him when he stands to envelope him in a hug.

Sliding a soothing hand over Louis’ back, Ryan lets him break down into his shoulder. No matter what he does, however, it doesn’t seem like he can get Louis to calm down. Everything he says seems to make it worse so he’s forced to call Liam to come pick Louis up.

A frantic Liam with a worried Zayn tagging along comes in twenty minutes later. With Zayn’s help, Liam finds Louis, pulling him into a hug. “Shhh, everything’s okay.” He can hear Zayn quietly talking to Ryan. He gets the jest of what happened and  _oh,_  he knows why Louis’ so upset now. He rubs the older man’s back to calm him. “Babe, it’s okay, he’ll be okay, and he’ll be playing in no time. Don’t worry.” But Louis isn’t having any of it right now.

“I think it’s best if we take him home.” He says over Louis’ head. Zayn looks over at Ryan, who looks helpless. His child is getting a cast on as they speak and his boyfriend is breaking down in front of him. Zayn feels for him.

He helps Liam up, who is clutching Louis, who, in return, is holding onto Liam like his life depends on it. Zayn manages to get them both in the backseat of his car with the help of Ryan. The car ride home is relatively quiet, except the dry sobs from Louis and the soothing _shh_ ’s from Liam.

Once Zayn helps Liam get Louis to his room, they say their good byes with whispers and kisses. Liam returns to Louis, spending the night running his finger through Louis hair and humming songs until he finally falls asleep.

The next morning, they wake up with a text message from last night that Aiden was fine and that Ryan took him home late that night. Louis sobs uncontrollably at this, Liam bringing him back into bed and letting him rest his head on his shoulder until the tears stop.

A few days later, after Louis has calmed down and, thanks to Liam, doesn’t think he’s _completely_  at fault for what happened to Aiden. Louis goes to see Ryan and Aiden. On the way, he keeps glancing over at the bag of goodies sitting in his passenger seat with a guilty smile.

Ryan answers the door ten minutes later to a Louis with his hands full. There is a ‘get well’ balloon, a teddy bear, and lots of other things Louis knows Aiden will like, along with flowers.

“I’m not dying.” Aiden says when he sees Louis with all the stuff, and Louis cringes.

“I know, cause I’m going to watch you forever.” Louis says after a beat, Aiden doesn’t know whether to take him seriously or not. Louis takes the gifts to his room without another word.

When he comes back, he hands Ryan a rose as an apology. “I’m sorry for not watching Aiden…” Ryan takes the rose and pulls him close, effectively interrupting Louis’ well thought out apology.

“I don’t blame you Lou, things happen. The doctor says he has to keep the cast on for six weeks but after a little therapy, he’ll be as good as new.”

After a moment, Louis sighs out of relief. “Thank goodness.” Ryan smiles at him.

“You’re amazing with him; DON’T ever think you’re not.” The darker man leans in, pressing his lips to Louis.

After a moment, they pull away. “Now, let’s rope him into watching that movie I bought him.” Louis wiggles his eyebrows and takes Ryan’s hand, leading him to Aiden’s room. He calls Aiden in there after a moment as he goes to get the movie.

“Do you think I’m five?” Aiden says as he plops down on his bed, eyeing the case in Louis’ hand. Ryan chuckles and sits on the edge of his son’s bed.

“No, but my best friend LOVES this movie, and sadly, I’m not familiar with any other movies appropriate for your age.” There are snickers around the room as he pops the movie in the player. They all pile on Aiden’s bed to watch Toy Story. Aiden ends up falling asleep before the credits roll.

Ryan and Louis get out of bed as easy as they can without waking him and walk out the door. Closing the door to Aiden’s bedroom, Ryan watches Louis stretch, his shirt riding up. Admiring the view, “Damn, you look good” Ryan pipes up, blushing slightly at the outburst.

“Oh really?” A smirk evident on Louis’ lips.

“Yeah…” Ryan leans in for a kiss, which turns needy and hard. Ryan is pushing him down the hallway to his own bedroom before either of them realize what’s going on. He doesn’t make it to the bedroom before he’s pressed Louis against the wall, feeling him up, hands everywhere.

Louis moans, surprised at Ryan being a little aggressive. He arches to the touch of Ryan’s hand on his thigh and he lifts a leg up around the man’s waist. Eventually, Ryan gets the hint and lifts Louis up, and the smaller man wraps both legs around him.

After a moment of rushed kissing, Ryan pulls them both away from the wall and brings them to his room. He closes the door with his foot before pressing Louis against the door. Ryan’s hands slide down, working Louis out of his jeans as Louis tries to make it easier on him by lifting his hips away from Ryan’s body. He’s in his pants when he unbuttons Ryan’s jeans, chucking them down around his thighs.

Cupping Ryan’s balls, Louis moves to quiet Ryan’s moans with his mouth over his. Pulling back, brown eyes blown, Ryan slides his fingers into Louis mouth without a word. Louis gets the hit and suck, licking between the digits and soaking them with his salvia.

After a moment, Ryan pulls them out of his mouth and trails them down Louis body. Without much more of a warning, Louis feels the slight pressure at his entrance before he’s breached. He moans at the feeling, arching his back. He melts into the touch, pleading with Ryan to just press his cock into him.

With that, Ryan replaces his fingers with his dick. His fingers are now in Louis’ hip, biting at the skin, probably leaving marks for him to admire later. Louis is already fucking himself on Ryan’s cock before he’s fully adjusted, needing it.

Louis has to kiss Ryan as neither of them seems to be able to keep quiet. Ryan’s meeting each slide down on his cock with his own thrust, causing Louis to see stars. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to last much longer. “Ry…”

Ryan nibbles on Louis collarbone as he works his hand between them, working Louis cock in time with his thrusts. Gasping at the contact, Louis closes his eyes and leans his head back, banging it on the door with a loud  _thud_.

It starts at the base of his spine and crawls down to the tip of his toes as he starts to slip over the edge. Louis’ toes curl as he releases hot spunk over Ryan’s hands and between there stomachs. It’s a good thing Ryan is still coherent because Louis is useless as his orgasm is ripped from him. His body is heavy as he comes to just as Ryan’s hips stutter, releasing his own seed inside the pliant man.

Breathing heavy against Louis’ skin, Ryan, after a moment, manages to walk them to the bed, practically throwing both of them on the bed. Eventually, he regains the functions in his limbs and goes to the bathroom to grab a wet cloth. He cleans both him and Louis up before tossing the sticky cloth to the side and crawling into bed.

They’re both exhausted as Louis cuddles against Ryan. Without any talk, they fall asleep like that, wrapped around one another.

——————————————————————-

Zayn glances at the clock on the wall. “Hey Harry!” he calls out. A curly head pokes from behind one of the displays.

“Yeah?” he leans farther out.

“You mind if I left early to pick up Liam?” Zayn bounces up and down a few times on his toes, showing his anticipation. Snorting, Harry waves at the bouncing man.

“Go ahead; I’m sure I can close on my own.” He looks around the solemn looking store. “We’re probably going to be dead the rest of the day anyways.”

Zayn doesn’t ask twice as he gathers up his things and heads for the door, stopping to ruffle Harry’s hair. “Thanks man, I’ll owe ya one!” The only sounds heard are the tinkling of the bell above the door and the young brunette’s laughter.

Hours pass as Harry watches the clock, waiting to close already. Boredom shows heavily on his face. Finally, with a few minutes to spare, Harry says screw it and closes anyways. He checks that everything’s ready for opening tomorrow before locking the door on his way out. Just as he passes a corner, he feels hands slam against his shoulders, sending him stumbling and scraping against brick. He scratches at the wall, trying to get up to run, but a blow to his side and back put him back down again. An eerily familiar voice wafts from behind him.

“Well lookie here boys, it’s the weirdo who has something against cars.” The tone is malicious, leaving shivers down Harry’s spine.

“Wait!” Harry says, the words tumbling from trembling lips. He moves back until his back touches wall. There’s nowhere else to go as the figures box him in.

The two guys, who shut Harry in the car several months ago, plus another one Harry can’t place, cut off Harry’s escape, one kicking him in the side for good measure for possibly even thinking about it. “Don’t have your boyfriend here to protect you this time, do you…faggot?”

Breath gusting out with the blow, Harry draws up tighter, trying to at least protect his head from the blows. At least the slurs flung at him don’t hurt as bad, having heard them all before. His heart thunders in his ears, wondering if he’ll make it out of this in one piece.

“Let’s see if he’s got any money.” Harry feels hands dig into his pockets until they snatch out his wallet. “Mmm, Harry Styles.” The boy snorts, flinging the id on the ground at Harry’s feet while he pockets what little cash that’s in it. “So, Harry, what’s that pretty little terrorist doing with you? Sticking it up your ass?” Maniacal laughter can be heard all around him.

“I thought that was what that blond does, isn’t that your  _life_  partner?” another boy chuckles, spitting in Harry’s hair.

Harry flinches at both their words and the nasty spittle sliding through his hair and down his face. He bites his lip against the whimper pressing to get out. Kicking out at the closest one to him, he hopes to find an opening to run. He hears the  _oomph_  as his foot connects, but doesn’t stick around to see what he hit; making it to his feet, he runs.

He doesn’t get far, though, feeling someone grab him from behind and yank him downwards, pushing him to the ground. “Lay the fuck down bitch.” He hears the hate-filled words as he pushed down with so much force that he’s sure he’s got a bloody noise now.

“Oh, where do you think you’re going?” another asks, “We’re just getting started. Wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun, now would you?” he snickers, leaning down closest to Harry and rubbing his face in the dirt and sludge on the pavement. “Like that? Like rubbing your face in shit?” laughter again can be heard echoing down the empty alley.

Harry does cry out now, trying to turn his head to spit out the mud, crying out as he feels more hands on him. Fighting harder now, he turns, throwing his hands out. “Stop! Please don’t!”

They boys don’t let up; in fact, they punch and kick him harder when Harry makes noises, just to make him beg louder. “Faggot gonna beg? Bet you beg for it don’t you? You’re disgusting, a disgrace.” He gets a hard hit in the left side of his jaw. Harry feels like he’s been cut and it’s only when he taste the metal of blood mixing with the mud that he realizes he was.

It’s when someone pulls him up for the leader to get a better grip that Harry notices the knife. “Think we should stick him back in a car, huh boys?” he smirks, kneeing Harry in the stomach as he gets up. With this new position, the boys have access to hit pretty much anywhere on Harry’s body. He’s exposed, and it’s highly likely that Harry won’t walk away from this one like he did the other time.

“Want us to stop faggot? Beg, beg like you do to your tourist boyfriend.” He chuckles, striking Harry across the face with his fist.

Tears stream down Harry’s face, mixing with the blood and dirt. “Oh God” he moans, wishing it would all stop.

The boys laugh, throwing punches and kicking him in the ribs. With one hard blow to the back of the head, Harry’s seeing black. When the boy falls to the ground on his own accord, all three boys blink at one another. “Fuck, did we kill him?” one nudges Harry’s body with the toe of his boot.

“Man, fuck, let’s get out of here.” They all scramble, running away from Harry’s broken body lying face down in the alley.


	15. The aftermath.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the events from the last chapter.

It’s amazing how slow time seems when you’re watching your own blood seem onto the street.

Hours slip by before consciousness slips back to the prone boy. It takes him a minute to come to, slipping in and out. He doesn’t want to move, doesn’t want the pain to worsen. The pain eats away at Harry's numb sleepiness, making him moan and twitch. Fingers twist for purchase, trying to find a way to get up. Feeling around for something to push himself off of, he groans at the stretch of his protesting muscles.

His face feels hot and swollen, mouth tasting of blood and grime, and his knee feels tight and sore. There seems so be a lot of red and he can barely open his eyes without a pain shooting from his head. Trying his best to wipe away the dirt from his eyes, he finally manages to open them, taking in what’s around him.

He’s still in the alley way, it’s darker now, probably dinner rush at the restaurant. He groans to himself, as the streets seems to empty, he can only hear a car whiz by every so often. Pushing himself, he tries to get up, assess the damage, hopefully he can still walk, but the agonizing pain in his knee says he’s probably gonna be crawling.

It takes so much effort before he's even pushed up onto his elbows, rolling slowly and haltingly to his side and finally to a seated position. Harry curls into himself, just waiting out the mounting pain, whimpers escaping his mouth unknowingly.

Slowly, he makes it first to his knees, in which he almost falls over in pain. Using the wall as support, he manages to lift himself up onto his feet, wanting to swoon at the pain in his one knee. The wall seemed to be the only thing holding him up, but Harry is determined not to fall. If he did, he is unsure he would be able to get back up. He needs to get to Niall.

Taking a deep wheezing breathe, he braces himself to start the journey. Step by agonizing step, he makes his way to the restaurant, using whatever is upright to hold himself up. He is crying again by the time he makes it to the employee entrance, shaking hard and barley making it through the door. "Niall!" he croaks out, trying to see through the haze of his blurred vision.

He stumbles and falls; being caught by who he thinks is one of the wait staff. He’s getting blood and dirt everywhere, Niall’s going to kill him he thinks.

Niall’s in the middle of fixing soup for some old couple when he turns to hear the commotion and the strangled cry from his lover. His faces reflect the horror he feels upon seeing Harry so…bloody. He rushes up, pulling Harry to him, waving away the staff, and letting Harry use Niall as an anchor. “What happened? Who did this?”

Shaking his head, Harry cries and holds onto Niall as his legs begin to crumble finally. His breathing is ragged and he chokes on a sob. "Niall!" he holds onto his lover with numb fingers.

Looking back at his assistant cook, he barks out orders and turns back to Harry, forcing him up on his feet. “Come on, let’s call Louis, I’ll take you to the hospital.” Niall holds on to Harry as he walks him back outside, hailing a cab. He slides in the cab as best as he can with Harry tucked safely against him. He shouts at the cabbie to head to the hospital and phones Louis. It doesn’t take long for Niall to bark his own orders to Louis, hanging up. His thumb runs over Harry’s swollen cheek. “Love, we’re going to get you better and I’m going to kill whoever did this to you, I promise.”

The trip to the hospital is a haze for Harry; he's having difficulty keeping track of Niall and his surroundings. The tension in his body ratchets up a few notches as he realizes he's in a moving vehicle. "Ni'l" he moans, trying to get closer. Shuddering as his body just can't keep up with that level of panic, Harry closes his eyes.

Niall holds Harry closer when he feels the boy’s body shivering violently. He knows Harry doesn’t like cars, but there was no other way to get him to the hospital faster. In no time, they’re parked in front of the emergency entrance of the hospital. Niall throws the cabbie some money, probably a lot more than the cab fare, and tugs Harry out of the cab.

He’s practically carrying Harry inside at this point, scared to make him put forth much more physical strength then he has too. Niall’s barely holding it together as he requests someone to help Harry. “Fuck, just help him, please.” He says, eyes blurring with tears as they put Harry on a gurney, wheeling him away, out of sight.

Louis stares down at his phone in horror, mind echoing with Niall's words about Harry being attacked. Jerking himself up and out of his office, he practically mows down his boss on the way out the door, shouting about an emergency. With shaking hands he unlocks his door and starts the car, peeling out with loud squeals of tires.

Parking his car hap-hazard in the hospital parking lot, Louis rushes into the waiting room, looking around frantically for a familiar blond hair. "Niall!" he calls, walking forward.

Niall’s muttering something to himself when he looks up to see Louis; he still has blood on his clothes and hands. Relief washes over him before his face falls once again. It feelings like he’s been beaten too, his lover in some room as he’s being treated for God knows what. “Louis,” he breathes, standing up and reaching out to hug him.

Louis grabs Niall, pulling the distressed boy to his chest, Niall collapsing at the touch. "I've got you, I've got you" he murmurs. Louis eyes the waiting room for an empty seat, finding one big enough to fit them both. "What's happened?"

It takes all Niall has to keep himself upright as he leans into Louis. When they’re seated, Niall pulls away a bit to look Louis in the eye, Niall lets out a puff before he explains, “I dunno, he just came into the restaurant, bloody and bruised. He had mud all over him. I’m not even sure what happened.”

Nodding, Louis rests their foreheads together. "He's going to be alright, Niall. You'll see." He tries to reassure the blond while stuffing his own anxieties down.

“I dunno, Lou, you didn’t see him. He-,“ Niall shakes his head; he’s not sure, Harry looked pretty bad when he collapsed in his arms, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever get that imagine out of his head. Both of the boys wait, until the doctor comes into the waiting room to get them.

The doctor turns out to be a petite and mousy woman. Louis notices that she doesn't have a grim look, so things can’t be at their worst. He stands with Niall, as she closes in on them, waiting with bated breath. "Family of Harry Styles?" she asks. Both nod. "We've cleaned Harry up and it's not as bad as I first thought." She looks down at the file in her hands.

"His knee's going to need a little rest, or risk further complications. He's mostly bruised and will probably be sore for a while." She looks to Niall. "He's asking for Niall, so if one of you wants to stay with him while we get the paperwork sorted out..." She leaves it to them to decide.

Nodding at Louis, Niall makes his way to where the doctor motions where Harry is. “Get the car, will you?” he calls to Louis before he disappears. He takes a deep breath before entering the room, trying to prepare him for what’s to come.

Louis nods, but whispers for the doctor to get a sedative for Harry, explaining his hatred of all things vehicular. The doctor nods before heading after Niall.

Harry's sitting up in bed, propped up against pillows. His knee is wrapped and has a cold back settled against it. The dirt's been wiped away, but some still lingers at the fringes of his hair, under his fingernails, and other places. Looking up as the doors opened, Harry reaches out for Niall when he sees the blond.

Rushing to the younger boy, Niall carefully leans to hold Harry, kissing his hair, tears falling on their own free will now. He could have lost Harry tonight, and if he ever finds out who did this to Harry, they’re dead. “Why didn’t Zayn walk you?” Niall blurts out.

Harry licks dry and split lips, wincing as a cut in the corner of his mouth stretches too far. "He left early to meet up with Liam, so I closed the shop by myself." he shakes his head, hands clenching against his lovers. "I didn't even see them!"

Niall shushes him, “Everything is alright. I’m here, nothing is going to happen to you.” He moves to look Harry in the eyes. “Are you okay?” he hesitates, knowing that Harry’s been through a lot.

Nodding, Harry slowly starts to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. The doctor chooses that moment to enter the room with a wheelchair.

"Mr. Styles, your chariot has arrived." She offers the boy a small smile. With Niall's help, he settles uncomfortably into the seat, but is kept from going anywhere by the doctor’s hand on the handle. She crouches down by his side. "You can press charges if you like hun," she tells him quietly. "We’ve taken pictures as per protocol. I can give them to the officer."

Harry looks at first Niall and then the doctor. "No thank you." he tells her quietly. The doctor looks at him for a moment more before standing and heading for a counter.

"Your friend told me you have a bit of a problem riding in cars, so I'm going to give you something to calm you down and help you sleep." She turns around to face them holding a syringe. "It will also act as a painkiller, but you'll still need to get your prescription filled" saying the last part to Niall.

Niall nods to the doctor, “Thank you.” He lets Harry squeeze his hand as he receives the shot. He musters up a smile, and goes to push Harry out the door where Louis is waiting with the car. He helps Harry into the car, letting the hospital attendant have the wheelchair back as he crawls in beside him. Blue eyes meet blue as Niall tells Louis that they’re ready to go home.

Harry nods off along the way, head resting against Niall's shoulder. Louis watches them both in the rearview mirror.

Resting his head against Harry’s, Niall silently fumes. If Zayn had walked him home or stayed with him to close the store, none of this would have happened. He clinches his fist as they park at the house. He nudges Harry to semi consciousness, “Babe, we’re home.” He says softly, getting out to basically carrythe highly sedated Harry to the door. He waits for Louis to get the door, before he helps Harry inside and gets him bed.

He sits on the edge, brushing the curls out of his face as he watches the boy whimper when he undresses him and takes off his shoes. He covers him, tucking him in and leaning down to kiss him lightly on the forehead. He waits until he knows Harry’s asleep before rejoining Louis in the living room.

Louis's foot taps with nervous energy. He stays seated until Niall comes into the room, popping up to tug the blond into the kitchen where he begins to fix tea. "He sleeping?"

Niall nods, impossibly quite. “He could have died Louis,” he all but whispers, blinking at his own words.

Immediately abandoning the tea, Louis rushes over to Niall, kneeling at his feet. "He didn't though!" not bothering to reject the idea, he's given up on the youthful thought of imperviousness. Louis takes the Irishman's hands in his own. "He's right down the hall in bed, sleeping. And when he wakes up, you're gonna be there for him."

Tears form in his eyes, Niall only nods at Louis’ words. Harry’s never leaving his sight after this, though. He’ll quit the art supply store and he’ll work with Niall at the restaurant and stay at home with Liam the rest of the time, Niall’s already made up his mind. When he gets ahold of Zayn, he’s gonna wish that he never even asked to leave early.

Louis watches Niall in a thoughtful manner as he stands to head back to making the tea. "I don't want to know what you're thinking, do I?"

Niall doesn’t have time to respond when the front door opens and Zayn and Liam come through, laughing at something. Niall gets up from his bar stool and meets them in the hallway, shoving Zayn into the wall, eyes furrowed. “Where the HELL were you?!”

Startled, Zayn releases his hold on Liam's hand to grab at the hands gripping painfully to his shoulders. "What?"

Liam steps closer to Niall, "Niall, what's happened?" He attempts a calming tone. "Where's Harry and Louis?" He reaches out, but doesn't make contact.

Louis calls out a "here" in response, but knows he's not going to be able to get the irate blond off of Zayn just yet.

“WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!” Niall yells louder this time, forgetting that there is a sleeping Harry rooms away. “You supposed to be there to protect him! This happened because of YOU!” Niall shoves him more roughly against the wall with the last word.

Zayn pulls gently at the hands holding him. "What's happened? Is it Harry? What happened to Harry?" his voice grows louder and more anxious.

Liam places a hand on Niall's arm. "Is Harry ok?"

“HARRY WAS PUT IN THE HOSPTIAL BECAUSE OF YOU!” Niall growls, clutching onto Zayn shirt. “He was beaten to a bloody pulp because you couldn’t WAIT to stick your nose up Liam’s ass!”

Stuttering a protest, Zayn pushes at Niall, trying to get him to back off. "Is he ok?"

Liam looks shaken at the news. "Louis! Where's Harry?" Louis grabs Liam's hand, grounding him with the touch.

"He's ok. He's asleep in his bed." He rubs a thumb along the brunette's wrist. "The doctor said they did no permanent damage; he's just going to be a bit bruised for a while."

“YOU’VE got no right to even ask!” Niall shoves at Zayn again. “You have no right to be here!”

Zayn jerks away from the blond, now angry himself. "I have every right to ask! He's my friend!" He balls his hands into fists. "And last I checked, he was YOUR boyfriend, so where the hell were YOU!" shouting the last part directly in Niall's face.

Niall scoffs, “Don’t you even say something like that to me! I was at work, where I was supposed to be, where were you?” all he sees is red now, his fist clinches as Zayn’s pushing his buttons.

"I didn't know they were there!" Zayn responds, throwing his hands into the air. "Do you really think I'd have left him alone if I knew this was going to happen?"

Liam calls out to Zayn and Niall, trying to get them to stop arguing and calm down. Both ignore him.

“I don’t know what you would do, but I certainly can’t trust you.” He growls at Zayn. “All you care about is yourself, why are you even here? For Liam? Well he doesn’t need you if this is your way of helping.”

Louis suddenly shushes them as there's a slight thump and creaking floorboard. Harry limps slowly around the corner, hair still a mess, looking pale and bruised. "Niall?"

The blond looks back, taking a breath to rein in his anger, not wanting to upset Harry. Before Niall goes to his lover, he shoots a hard look at Zayn. "You need to leave" he states quietly.

“Niall…” Liam warns softly, “Zayn, you don’t have to leave.” He reaches towards Zayn.

Niall looks at both of them sternly before leaving the two in the hallway, wrapping an arm around Harry. “Love, you’re supposed to be resting.” He says in a significantly lighter tone than the one he used on Zayn. “Let’s get you back to bed.” He helps Harry back into the bedroom, curling up with him in bed and hum softly in his ear to get him to fall asleep.

Louis looks between them both, getting the feeling that something bad was coming. He shakes his head, running a hand through his already tussled locks. "Come on, there's tea in the kitchen."

Liam grabs on to Zayn’s arms as he tugs him to the kitchen, not wanting Zayn to leave him in such an unsettling way. He feels his way to the counter, sitting down at the bar when they get there.

Zayn follows, saddened that he'd wound up in a yelling match with Niall when Harry was in such a state. "Liam" he says softly. "I'm so sorry."

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault.” he murmurs, hand reaching out to clasp Zayn’s cheek tenderly. “I’m sorry that Niall blew up at you like that.” He’s almost embarrassed at the way his friend acted towards Zayn, hoping that Zayn won’t hold it against any of them. “Niall’s just really angry at what happened with Harry and wants someone to blame when there really isn’t anyone to blame. He’ll get over it once Harry’s up and bouncing around again.”

Clasping a hand to the one on his cheek, Zayn shakes his head. "He's got a right to be angry; Harry could have been seriously hurt, even killed!" He was getting upset all over again. Taking a few deep breaths, he slides their fingers together. Placing their foreheads together, he brushes lips lightly over Liam's. "Still can’t help feeling a little responsible."

Louis slides a cup for each of them onto the bar. "Zayn, you couldn't predict something like this. Besides" he places his hands on his hips, "What if you were there? You could have been just as hurt or worse. Let’s just be thankful we're still together and make sure we're more aware of our surroundings." He sips from his own cup of tea.

Liam is grateful for Louis’ words and smiles into his cup of tea when he pulls away from Zayn to take a sip. The warmth of the tea sooth his frazzled nerves, as he places a hand on Zayn knee, squeezing to let him know everything is going to be alright.

\----------------------------------------------

Weeks pass and although Harry's getting better, he still hasn't returned to work. He misses both the restaurant and the art shop; he's getting bored. Settled on the couch with lots of pillows and Liam to keep him company, Harry leans his head in his friend's lap, smiling as Liam runs fingers through his hair. "Sorry you have to babysit." he says to the older boy.

Liam shakes his head, frowning a bit. “I don’t mind, you’re not too hard to look after anyways. Just got to keep the toasters out of the bathtub and the forks out of the electrical sockets and we’re good.” He chuckles, continuing to play with Harry’s curls.

Harry hums faintly, already falling asleep.

 

 

 

Louis kisses Ryan on the cheek, smiling as he slides into the booth. Knowing their breaks will be over soon, Ryan had ordered their coffees and had them waiting. "Sorry I'm late!"

Ryan shakes his head, "It's fine." They hold hands and chat about their day. Ryan notices his lover looks worn. "So what's got you so down?"

Louis looks away for a moment. "Harry's getting better after the attack, but I think Niall's getting worse." He pauses to think a moment. "I think the only person he hasn't snapped at is Harry."

Furrowing his eyebrows, he takes a sip of his coffee. “That’s weird. Maybe someone needs to talk to him.”

Louis hums in agreement. "I tried, but he was so vague and I'm sure sleep-deprived that it really didn't make a difference. I really don't know what to do." Looking worriedly into Ryan's eyes, Louis bites his lip. "I think things are going from bad to worse."

 

 

 

Harry wakes up when Niall gets back from the restaurant early. Smiling at his lover, he sits up. "How was work?"

Niall shrugs, resting a baggie for him on the coffee table beside the couch. It’s got warm soup and some fresh bread he made right before he left his shift. “It was work. I think it’ll run a lot smoother when you’re able to go back with me.” He smiles, sitting at the edge while he takes out the Styrofoam bowl, opening it and putting a spoon in it for Harry.

Harry takes the food grateful. He sips a mouthful while he leans against his lover. "I can come back sooner, you know. I'm not that bad off." Eyeing the blond, Harry hopes he'll agree; sitting around the house was plain boring.

He shakes his head, leaning against the couch as he watched Harry with the food. “No, not until you’re completely better. How’s your knee?”

Looking down at the now-braced appendage, the brunet shrugs. "It doesn't hurt as much as before, so I think the exercises are helping." He leans in and pecks a kiss to Niall's cheek. "I can stand and walk for longer now." he says, hoping to give the Irishman a clue.

“That’s good.” He smiles lovingly at Harry. He knows the boy is getting rather antsy staying home all the time, but truthfully, Niall’s not really sure he can handle Harry being anywhere but beside him or in the safety of their home, not after what happened. “Maybe you and Liam can walk me to work one day this week if you’re feeling up to it, get that knee working properly again.”

Laughing, Harry nods and leans into Niall, placing the bowl back onto the coffee table. "I know another kind of exercise we could do." His eyes sparkle with mischief.

“Oh really? The doctor gave you a new exercise to do?” Niall smiles as he wraps an arm around Harry’s middle to pull him closer to cuddle with him.

Snorting and shaking his head, Harry goes along with the move, tucking his head into the crease where neck meets shoulder. Kissing lightly he says "Not exactly." A tongue flicks out, tasting the blonds skin. Harry settles his lips over the now-wet spot.

Niall’s eyes slide shut as he feels Harry’s lips on his skin, his hand clenches tighter on the material of the back of Harry’s shirt. “Mmm, is this exercise something that won’t embarrass Liam if he comes out here?”

Harry pauses, lifting his mouth away. "We can continue this...exercise elsewhere if you prefer." His voice is husky, a wanting in his eyes.

He’s amused, moving to get off the couch. “I’m pretty sure we’ve scarred that poor boy enough for a lifetime already.” He smirks, wrapping his arms around Harry to lift him up and carry him into their bedroom, toeing the door shut when they’re inside.

The brunet smiles, hands already stroking against Niall's shirt, sliding against nipples. He takes his own shirt off as soon as Niall puts him down. Popping the button on his jeans, he leers at his lover, wiggling his eyebrows dramatically.

Shaking his head as he laughs, Niall moves down to rest hands on either side of Harry’s body as he kisses him. He’s been really careful with Harry not to hurt him, and this isn’t an exception. “Easy love, don’t want to hurt you.” He murmurs against Harry’s lips before pulling away to look at the boy at a safe distance.

Harry huffs, standing and carefully removing his clothes till he stands naked. Stepping closer, he settles his hands against the blond’s chest. "Niall" he kisses him gently. "I am not spun glass." He runs his hands under the other's shirt, tickling against smooth skin.

“I know you’re not, it’s just…” he trails off, looking down as he runs a hand over Harry’s exposed skin. “I just don’t want to jeopardize your healing process.” He finally looks up to meet Harry’s eyes.

The younger boy crowds against him with a smile. "You would never hurt me." Eyes light and smiling to the blond, Harry kisses his lover again, with more heat, hands sliding under the edge of Niall's jeans. His tongue slides against Niall's lower lip, begging entrance.

It doesn’t take long before Niall is giving in, opening his mouth for Harry as his own hands slide over naked skin. It’s never taken Harry long to get what he wants from Niall, and it would look like Niall would learn, but he doesn’t. Each and every time he tells himself he’ll stand strong, but always ends up failing when he’s faced with those big green eyes and that pout he sort of does.

Harry moans into the kiss; it's been too long since they were intimate with one another. He drags them back to the bed, pushing Niall first before following him down with a giggle. They lie facing each other, Harry's hand traveling under and up Niall's shirt. "Been waiting a while for this" he whispers.

Fingers trail up Harry’s side as Niall’s eyes twinkle with mischief. “So you planned this?” he chuckles, sliding fingers down to flick a nipple teasingly.

Body twitching, the brunet bites his lip. "Why of course not." He bats his lashes and tugs on Niall's clothes. "I think you're a bit overdressed there love."

Niall takes the hint and moves to get undressed, throwing his discarded clothes onto the floor before crawling back beside Harry to pressing his ever growing hard on against him. “Mmm” he groans, capturing Harry’s lips with his own. He’s missed this; it’s been far too long.

Harry settles himself to his back, spreading his legs to accommodate his lover's bulk. A hand runs down before grabbing Niall's member, hand strong and sure as he strokes. He leans up to kiss the blond open mouthed, swallowing the sounds of pleasure.

Growling in the kiss, Niall slides his hand to pin Harry to the mattress as he’s now resting on top of him, grinding their hips together in delicious friction. His lips move to lick, nip, and suck down Harry’s neck, leaving angry red marks that are sure to bruise once it’s all said and done.

Losing himself in the feeling, the brunet moans and bucks, hands gripping onto Niall's ass, kneading and starting to beg for more. Harry tilts his head back, groaning at the sensation. "Want you in me!" he whines.

Niall nibbles on Harry’s earlobe as he smirks, thrusting on last time against Harry’s erection before pulling back and shimming down to slide a thumb over Harry’s entrance. “You sure?” he looks up, raising an eyebrow at his lover. He teases him by only applying a bit of pressure against the sensitive skin as he dips his head down and licks the length of Harry’s cock.

Coming half off the bed, Harry glares at his lover. "Oh don't tease me!" He smirks and runs fingers against the blond's lips, breath catching as Niall's tongue darts out to taste the tip.

Smirking, Niall moves his fingers, nudging one inside him as he sucks on Harry’s fingers, trying to distract him from the burn. He works slowly, but applying enough pressure to cause Harry to moan. His finger brush over Harry’s insides carefully, spreading him open nice and easy, as Niall licks Harry’s fingertips one last time before letting them go to work on Harry’s cock.

Head back and hands fisted in the covers, he tries not to cum. Watching as Niall sucks him down, fingers spearing him and spreading him wide. He moans, his hips rocking with each slide. "Niall" his name stretched out and filled with desire.

Niall swallows around Harry as he presses a second finger inside him, scissoring him. He hums around Harry’s dick, causing vibrations to tease the younger boy further.

Harry moans, fingers tangling in Niall's hair. "So ready! Been ready for you!" he pants, tugging at gold strands lightly.

With an obscene ‘pop’, Niall sucks the tip of Harry’s dick until he moves up his body, kissing and nipping at bare skin and nipples, until he reaches lips. He captures Harry’s bottom lip with his teeth as Niall slowly slides his fingers out. He moves to shift his weight so he’s now hovering over the smaller boy. He spits in his hand, before lubing himself up. Niall continues to nip kisses at Harry as he gets himself ready, by positioning his hip between Harry’s legs and nudging himself inside him.

Harry has to breathe through the stretch, but he's happy to be filled like this again. "Love you" he moans, hand tangling with Niall's. He rocks his hips, taking his lover deeper and deeper into his body, breath gusting out as the older boy finally bottoms out. His body vibrates with need. "Niall!"

Niall groans at the fullness, of being inside Harry once again. His hand clinches Harrys, once he allows them both to get adjusted to the feeling and he’s able to move. He pulls out half way only to slide himself back in to the hilt. He groans, worrying his bottom lip as he looks down at his mate. “Fuckkk” he whimpers.

The smaller boy tightens his hold on his lover, pulling him down to share a kiss. "Feels so good!" He grinds down onto the cock filling him, groaning in pleasure as he does so. "Harder!" he demands

He doesn’t have to be told twice, as he thrusts into Harry harder, snapping his hips against him hard enough to make the headboard hit the wall and the mattress groan in protest. Liam’s probably hating them right about now, but Niall doesn’t care, he’s gone entirely way too long for this and he wants it, no, needs it. “Harry, so tight…so hot.”

"Yeah! Like that!" Harry has a solid grip on Niall with one hand, his other reaching down to take himself in his hand. "Won’t last long" he warns, his hand jacking himself with every thrust.

Harry’s words only fuel Niall on; desperate to hear his lover cry out when he’s painting their bodies with his cum. Niall thrusts into him hard, feeling the familiar pull in his abdomen that tells him he’s close.

Harry's cries become louder the closer he gets to orgasm. His toes curl and his breath stutters to a stop as one particular thrust hit his sweet spot. Back arching, he cums hard, painting both his and Niall's chests.

“Fuck,” Niall breathes, feeling himself come undone when he feels the hot stickiness of his lovers cum against his chest. He buries his head in Harry’s neck, seeing stars as he explodes, realizing his load inside Harry. Niall shudders as he feels himself coming down from his high, planting soft kisses against Harry’s skin.

Harry pulls Niall down to cuddle with him, ignoring the sticky mess for the moment. "Mmm...let’s do that again?" He smiles at the boy, eyes fluttering at the gentle touch of lips.

Niall manages to lift his head up from Harry’s neck to look at the boy. “Give me a minute?” he says weakly, kissing his cheek, “Unless you want something else.” He arches an eyebrow.

Giggling, Harry scoots closer to the blond. "I guess I can wait for you to catch your second wind."

Pulling Harry to him, Niall chuckles, kissing his forehead, “You’re going to be the death of me.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr ](http://ziaminmypants.tumblr.com)  
> character asks for this fic can be found [here](http://thecharacterasks.tumblr.com)


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